Starstruck
by ThePowerOfTheGio
Summary: "I'm fine, but you need to go with Yuukio." Hikaru said reluctantly into the phone, and he nervously glanced at the teen rock sensation and object of his brother's crazed affections sitting in the seat next to him before continuing. "You know me, super clumsy. I totally fell during all the commotion and hit my head, but it was honestly no big deal." He lied. (HikaruxOC, KaoruxOC)
1. When the Day Met the Night

Basically, I have no imagination and am incapable of coming up with my own plots or OCs and love to create extremely niche fanfiction that no one will read lmao. Most of the OCs as well as some plot devices were granted to me from the wonderful Spark Plug X's fanfiction Kiss Kiss Leave Me Alone (that you should totally check out because it's so amazing and perfect and just ahhh). Me and my friend read it literally two years ago and became obsessed with it and had super lame emo crushes on Xavier and we also loved Starstruck and just really lame Disney Channel movies in general so I wrote her this as a joke/present but now its become this like 100k+ word monster and is also really precious to me and I wanted to post it here for some sense of validation for all the time I spent on it lmao.

Disclaimer: this whole fanfiction was written under the premise that ouran academy was located in a made up Japanese town somewhere not in Tokyo, but apparently it totally is in Tokyo so let's just pretend its not for now alright.

* * *

Chapter 1: When the Day Met the Night

Hikaru can remember the first time he heard Xavier sing.

It was a couple months before the end of his freshman year, and he was sitting in homeroom with his twin brother, Kaoru, waiting for class to start. There were many things looming in his mind at the moment: his senpais Honey's and Mori's graduation, the uncertainty of the future of the host club, his anxiousness towards his attempt to be more independent from his twin, but most of all his impending crush on Haruhi. He glanced at the girl sitting obliviously in the seat next to him, biting her lip in concentration as she scribbled something down in her notebook. His heart leapt just looking at her, the new weird mix of uncertainty and nervousness that was suddenly always associated with her taking him off guard.

He didn't even hear the music initially, to be honest. Haruhi noticed it first, and glanced up at the crowd of students gathering around one of the desks, and Hikaru, in his staring, followed her gaze to the group. The music was rough, and muffled slightly from the speakers, but he could still tell it was fast paced and a smooth male voice accompanied the beat with a matching quickness. When he noticed Kaoru standing among the group as well, his interest finally peaked enough for him to stand up and join them.

"What's going on?" He asked his twin as he came up next to him. He craned his neck around the group and noticed a girl sitting at the desk in the middle holding a tablet in her hand. There was a video playing on it with bright flashing colors pulsating quickly, and he realized it was the source of the music he was hearing. Hikaru squinted his eyes to focus on the screen and saw it was showing a concert, and the camera fixated on the band on stage.

"It's a new band that just debuted yesterday." Kaoru filled in as the video zoomed in on the singer, a tall, pale man with a blonde mohawk and dark leather jacket. He gripped the mic and sang into it, more like yelled actually, with a passion and intensity that rolled off of him in waves with each lyric he belted out. It was so encompassing that Hikaru barely registered he was singing in English.

"They're all anyone's talking about right now. People are saying they're going to be the next big thing in Japan." The girl holding the tablet added, turning to the twins at overhearing their conversation. The man on the screen looked straight at the camera at that moment, wearing an expression like he hadn't realized it was there at first, but then smirked smugly and winked.

The group around them squealed at the gesture, responding instantly, and Hikaru realized they were mostly girls and scoffed. He dealt with enough fangirls in the Host Club, and he felt his interest waning quickly when he realized that this man was just taking his fans' attention away from him.

The camera zoomed away to reveal the rest of the band, and Hikaru's attention was instantly drawn to the girl in the back. She had bright pink hair and was banging on the drums with excitement and enthusiasm, screaming along to the song even though no one could hear her. Although she was small and at the back, she could still draw so much attention to herself, and he could tell she probably had a loud and vibrant personality, almost like another blonde senpai he knew.

There were two other men flanking the singer on either side, one more reserved and casual and the other jumping around with a gleeful and eager expression. Hikaru couldn't help but smile slightly at the attitude.

"What are they called?" Kaoru asked the girl, considering her the expert on the band. Hikaru jumped at the question, confused at his twin's interest in this group that was literally just reemploying the same tactics they use in the Host Club to make girls swoon over them. Kaoru should be able to see through the smoke screens and fake schematics, not falling for them.

"Lost in Translation." The girl answered immediately, obviously a little excited at the twin's interest in her, or her video to be more specific.

"What? You're not into this, are you?" Hikaru questioned in disbelief under his breath so only his twin would hear him.

"I don't know, I think it's kind of cool." Kaoru shrugged, brushing off his brother and not taking his eyes off the screen.

"And that's Xavier Labelle." The girl piped up again, drawing Hikaru's attention back to the video as it focused onto the singer, Xavier apparently, an obviously not Japanese name.

"What is that? French?" Hikaru questioned, finding himself becoming more irritated with the band the more Kaoru's interest grew.

"Yeah, he's actually half French and half Japanese. I think the rest of the band is either American or French, though." A different girl contributed this time, excited to display her own knowledge of the new group. "I think his dad is that huge business tycoon, Akio Hoshakuji?"

"Oh, I think my mom does business with him!" A different girl exclaimed, and suddenly Hikaru understood a little bit more of who this man was. He was high class, but just pretending to be all rough and rebellious for the aesthetic. Deep down, however, he was one of them.

"Why are they here then? Why not debut in America or France?" Hikaru wondered, and he mentally kicked himself for asking so many questions over the group he was supposed to be disinterested in, but it just didn't make sense.

"I think they were having trouble finding a record label in America because they were so young or something? But this Japanese record company wanted a group with a more Western style." The first girl explained, and Hikaru snorted. It's one thing to be looking for a "western style," but this group was literally the West just packaged and sealed for Japan.

Hikaru glanced back at the screen as the sound shifted when the song hit the bridge and the camera turned to the enthusiastic boy as he played a guitar solo. With the camera closer to him now, Hikaru could see the subtle curls of his short brown hair, the light freckles that dusted his cheekbones, and the muscles in his tanned arm that danced as he strummed his guitar. Then, out of nowhere, Xavier walked into the shot and pressed his entire body up to the other man's back to whisper something in his ear. The guitarist glanced over and nodded, unfazed by the intimacy, but it was like he was grinding up on him and Hikaru felt a tingling somewhere he shouldn't.

Meanwhile, Kaoru's jaw was hanging wide as he observed the scene in ultimate HD, leaned in over the girl's shoulder to watch from as close as possible. The girls around them screeched at the intimate gesture, and he could already hear them murmuring about shipping them and texting and calling their friends in excitement.

Suddenly, someone cleared their throat loudly across the room and all heads whipped up to see their teacher glaring back at them from the front of the classroom. They instantly dispersed, the video hastily clicking off, and filed into their seats as if nothing happened. The teacher only spared them one last stern look before turning to the board and beginning the lecture, and Hikaru let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding.

* * *

The next time Hikaru heard Xavier was the following day. And then the day after that, and the day after that, and suddenly it was every day that he heard his band somewhere. It was either from another classmate at school, on TV, or on the radio, and it didn't help that Kaoru had also looked the band up after getting home that day and now listened to them religiously. Hikaru couldn't escape the group even in his own home.

He wasn't sure why he was so irritated with them when he first saw them. Maybe it was because they were trying to seem Japanese even though they were so clearly not. Maybe it was because they were singlehandedly and unknowingly capturing the attention of everyone around him and taking it away from Hikaru himself. Or maybe it was because Xavier was cool and attractive and all around flawless and it irritated Hikaru beyond belief. But, whatever the reason, Hikaru quickly decided he hated them and filed that under things he wouldn't change his mind about no matter how clueless or wrong he might be about them, which was unsurprisingly something he was really good at.

Each week that passed however, Kaoru became more and more obsessed with them until he had completely descended into fanboy hell with the other Lost in Translation fans, and all Kaoru spoke, thought, and breathed about was that band. Hikaru loved his brother, but it drove him up the wall. And, even though he tried to avoid exposure to the band as much as possible, he couldn't help learning their names, songs, and other random facts about them thanks to his brother's as well as the rest of Japan's obsession with them.

Along with that, the weeks also passed until suddenly school dwindled down to summer, Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai graduated in the spring, and they all unanimously decided to continue the Host Club for one last year with just the four of them. Haruhi had mentioned ideas of recruitment, but the others still felt uneasy about it, not sure if they were willing to trust anyone else with even a small piece of the club they all cherished so much. Hikaru found himself sitting on the couch in his living room the first day of summer vacation with these thoughts plaguing his mind, the heat seeping through the walls and windows even with the AC unit blasting in the corner. He was lazy, and bored, and quickly losing interest in the TV playing reruns of old 90s sitcoms across the room.

As if on cue, his brother walked in and promptly ignored his lazing twin, stealing the remote from his unsuspecting hand and changing the channel.

"Hey, I was watching that." Hikaru protested, even though he actually didn't care that much, his interest on the show he was watching having been lost a while ago.

"Dude, you've seen that episode of Friends like a hundred times." Kaoru retorted, flipping through a few channels before stopping on an unfamiliar talk show. "Besides, this is more important." Hikaru was confused for a couple seconds before the shot changed to a stage and Hikaru saw Xavier standing at its center. He outwardly groaned his annoyance.

"There are literally like seven other TVs in this house, you realize?" Hikaru argued, reflexively protesting anything to do with the band even though he was actually a little glad for the slight distraction.

"We both know this is the best TV and the only one with surround sound." Kaoru countered, hastily raising the volume to catch whatever Xavier was saying in his stupid French accent, which Hikaru was pretty sure was fake by the way. "I still don't understand why you hate them so much, they're really good." Kaoru wondered out loud, not taking his eyes off the screen, but Hikaru could tell he had seen right through him. Nothing he did ever got past his twin.

Hikaru opened his mouth to answer, a curt reply on how terrible, annoying, and overrated they were ready on his lips, when suddenly the first chords rang out and Hikaru was interrupted by an explosion of sound. Kaoru sat two feet in front of the TV, hugging his knees to his chest in excited anticipation, completely forgetting his question once the band started playing.

The music was upbeat and loud (courtesy of Kaoru), and the chorus was fast and in English but Hikaru didn't care enough to translate the lyrics in his head to understand them. The band was performing in the same set up as when Hikaru had first seen them play on that small tablet before homeroom a couple months ago. Xavier was in the center singing with a guitar slung across his back, and he gripped the microphone with both hands as he sang out the lyrics with that same passion he had from the first time Hikaru had seen him sing, only stopping during instrumental breaks to jump and stomp around with his bandmates. To his right was Isaac, a quiet childhood friend of Xavier's from France and the bass player of the band, and to his left was Vinny, the outgoing and notoriously flirty lead guitarist who they had met in music school in America and Xavier's closest friend in the band. Hikaru knew too well about how many people "shipped" Xavier and Vinny from the amount of times he had overheard his classmates talking about them, especially to his brother since they knew he was also a fan. Lastly was Stella, the drummer in the back, and she was known for having a friendly and bubbly personality while also singlehandedly upholding the band's social media presence. Hikaru hated himself for knowing so much about them, and he groaned again but at irritation with himself this time.

The camera refocused on Xavier as the song hit the bridge and Vinny walked into the shot, enthusiastically strumming a complicated guitar riff for his solo, and Xavier mimicked him with his own air guitar as the two brightly smiled at each other. Kaoru was beaming warmly at the sight, and Hikaru could tell he slightly shipped the two even if he wouldn't admit it out loud. But then Vinny's expression turned mischievous and he winked at his friend, making a kissy face at him, and Xavier pretended to swoon before laughing and turning back to the mic to finish the song.

It was obvious just playful fanservice, literally the naïve version of what him and his brother do almost every day in the Host Club. Kaoru however was wide-eyed and gaping openly as he stared at the scene in front of him in disbelief, a scream dying on his lips has he tried to comprehend what he had just seen. Hikaru scoffed at his brother, disappointed in him for falling for the same schtick they pull all the time.

"Why are you so gay?" He wondered out loud instead. He loved his twin of course, but this fanboy side of him was getting more than a little irritating.

"Bi, actually." Kaoru corrected, not taking his eyes off the screen.

Xavier took that moment to bite his lip and wink at the camera as it swept past him, a gesture that was becoming almost a signature move of his, and Kaoru screamed along with the rest of the audience on the TV before falling over into a fetal position on the floor.

Finally, the song came to an end and the hostess walked back onto the stage to say a couple more words before cutting to commercial break. Kaoru was already on his phone, typing away on some social media site, and Hikaru assumed it had something to do with the band's performance he had just seen.

"I can't believe we're going to the city where they live tomorrow!" Kaoru exclaimed from the floor, not slowing down in his hasty typing as he voiced his excitement to his brother. "Like imagine if I met Xavier. I would actually die, okay."

"You know we're going to Tokyo to visit grandma, right? Not to achieve some lame, star struck fantasy of yours." Hikaru responded teasingly, but inwardly sighed as he remembered the impromptu trip their mom had forced upon them last minute. The initial proposal for the trip was just to visit their grandma who they hadn't seen in almost six years now, but their mom had decided to make them stay for the entire summer under the premise of gaining a new perspective on life, modestly living for once, stepping out of their bubble, becoming more independent, and a list of other morale-building clichés that Hikaru couldn't remember at the moment. He speculated that the real reason behind it though was because their grandmother had broken her hip last summer trying to do repairs on the house alone, and their mother was probably hoping that with the twins there to give her a helping hand she wouldn't need to put herself at such a risk again. However, they knew their mother would never admit to offering up her sons for free labor, and their grandmother would never agree to such a notion anyway, so everyone settled on the clichés instead.

"I thought it was something about 'priceless brotherly bonding' and 'building an indispensable new perspective on life.'" Kaoru joked, bringing his voice up an octave in an attempt to mimic their mother's words from earlier. They both laughed at the impression before the talk show flickered on again, and Kaoru's attention was sucked back into the hostess interviewing the band.

Hikaru wouldn't admit it out loud, but he was nervous about the trip and emerging into unfamiliar territory. Although he had visited Tokyo countless times before, he knew that living there would be an entirely different story, and he didn't remember his grandmother well enough to gage what kind of women she actually was. He glanced at his brother in his anxiousness, a habit he was trying to break, but he felt reassured at least in knowing that Kaoru would be there.

As long as he had his twin by his side, he was sure he could get through anything.

* * *

Xavier sank into the couch in the small green room with a huff of exhaustion after the set had ended. Vinny, one of his best friends and bandmates lumped into the couch next to him, falling against him in his own bout of exhaustion, and the rest of the band also settled into comfortable seating around the room. There was a long table next to the couch with a plethora of food stacked on top of it and Xavier's stomach growled just at the site of it. He took a doughnut and plopped it into his mouth with a pleasant sigh. It was the first thing he had eaten all day.

"Damn, that looks so good. Can you pass me one?" Vinny asked from where he was practically drooling on Xavier's shoulder. Xavier was about to reach out to comply when Jackal walked in and stole his attention.

"That was great guys! That was probably the highest viewer rate we've had so far." He began "Now, don't forget tomorrow you have the photoshoot for that magazine in the morning and we have a meeting with the record company tomorrow afternoon. Friday you have off, but I want all of you guys in the studio working on that new song. You know we have to drop a single by the end of the summer and it needs to be perfect."

Jackal was their manager and his connections were half the reason they had managed such huge success so quickly, the other half being their talent of course. Jackal was also Xavier's uncle on his mom's side, the French side, and he could tell living in such a foreign country was wearing on him. It was wearing on all of them actually, since none of them had any connection to Japan other than Xavier. And even Xavier was getting a little bit antsy since his memories of Japan and his father's side of the family specifically were always slightly traumatic. They were all itching for their Japanese contract to end at the end of the summer so they could ride their success and finally debut in America.

"Why do we have to do so much?" Stella complained with a groan, sinking further into her seat and using her drumsticks to make over exaggerated gesturing motions. "We're already super popular as it is."

"And if you want to stay popular you have to keep working and keep things interesting or people will get bored. That's how the entertainment industry is." Jackal lectured before turning to Xavier. "And don't forget that _all_ of you need to stay out of the press until Xavier's movie deal is landed Monday. This is extremely important for your career, Xavier, so I don't need you especially doing anything not business related until then. Any bad press could completely ruin this opportunity for you." This caught his attention and he straightened up, causing Vinny to slide off of him and groan. He had completely forgotten about that.

"But Friday night is Monique's birthday party and I already promised her I would perform." Xavier argued as he tried to dodge Vinny's hand reaching past him to grab his own damn doughnut, which Xavier had also forgotten about. Monique was his girlfriend and childhood friend from France. She had just received some bad news and wanted to get away so had shown up at Xavier's doorstep a couple of days ago for an impromptu visit.

"Xavier, you have to understand that this movie deal is more important than a birthday party." Jackal tried to reason. Xavier knew he was right, even though he could honestly care less about anything that didn't directly relate to his music. But, his mom and uncle had pulled a lot of strings to get him this "opportunity," as they had put it, and he didn't want to disappoint them, so he nodded earning the older man's satisfaction. "Okay, so you guys have to make an appearance at the end of the show again so you have about thirty minutes or so to relax and eat. I'll come back and get you when it's time." Jackal instructed as he pulled out his phone to answer a call and left the room speaking fluent French into the device.

"Monique's going to kill me." Xavier groaned, already pulling out his phone to deliver the bad news. This wasn't the first time he had to break a promise to her because of a band related issue, and he knew she would understand but would also be disappointed. And, if it wasn't obvious by now, disappointment was not something he handled very well. Vinny put his hand over the phone though, and pushed it back down, barring him from sending the text.

"No, she won't." Vinny said with a smirk. "We can make this work.

* * *

Their private plane landed in Haneda Airport in Tokyo the next day. The twins walked down the stairs out of the aircraft in style with their mother following behind, already tapping away and answering emails on her phone. A chauffeur from the Tokyo branch of her company was waiting for them at the bottom, and they slipped into the sleek black limo without a hitch, accustomed to the extravagance of even domestic trips like this

Hikaru tried to shake off his anxious nerves as they rolled through the urban landscape of Tokyo, the buildings flying by as familiar to him as they were foreign. A part of him was excited, wondering what new adventures might ensue from a summer in such a bustling, global city. Another part of him was nervous of having to navigate the new environment, physically as well as emotionally, and worried about anything that might go wrong along the way.

Hikaru glanced at his brother sitting next to him at the back of the limo and noticed him scrolling through Xavier's Twitter feed. He rolled his eyes, realizing his brother was probably already searching for the celebrity's whereabouts in the city. He figured it was probably in vain, considering the celbrity was only one person in a city of millions, but he was pretty sure mentioning it for the tenth time probably wouldn't make a difference.

After navigating out of the city and settling around the much more modest outskirts, the car finally stopped in front of a small, two-story house. Both boys automatically turned to their mother, assuming she had given the driver the wrong address, but the woman was already making her way out of the car. The twins only gave each other one more confused and panicked glance before scrambling after her.

"This is it?" Hikaru wondered out loud after he had gotten out, the hot summer air hitting him like he had just walked into an oven. The house was a small, white but dirty, two story building, but he could tell by the two signs on the door that his grandma only actually inhabited the first floor while someone else lived upstairs. There was a patch of dirt in front of the house that looked like a garden had belonged there, but no vegetation grew anymore. He also noticed a stone path leading around the corner, probably to a garage or back door, and wind chimes dangling from an overhanging roof sang with an oncoming breeze. It was basically the very definition of commoner's housing and he had never been confined to such tight living quarters before in his life.

"How are we going to fit?" Kaoru asked once he had exited the vehicle as well and took in the small building. Their mom ignored them to thank the driver and ushered them towards the front door.

"Welcome to the real world boys." Their mother announced as they made their way up the stiff, yellow lawn. "You know I built my company from scratch. This was how I grew up before my wealth, and it's time you boys experienced a new perspective. And your grandmother was always one for modestly living, so it might prove a nice change of pace." She explained as they reached the entrance, even though they had already heard this spiel more than a couple of times. They didn't realize however, that part of this "new experience" included commoner's living, and the already bleak proposition suddenly seemed that much more unappealing.

She lightly knocked on the door but, after about a minute of no response, resorted to banging, forgetting that her mother was losing her hearing. They heard the lock click before a small woman with the same face as their mother but with grey hair and wrinkles answered the door. A surprised smile flashed on her face as she realized who they were, almost like she forgot they were coming, which she probably did in all honesty.

"Hi, mom." Their mother greeted as she gave the old woman a hug before letting herself in.

"Oh, boys, it's been so long!" Their grandma exclaimed as she turned her attention to them. "Hikaru you've gotten so tall" she pointed out as she ruffled Kaoru's hair and then patted Hikaru's shoulder and told him "Kaoru, you look so handsome." Her smile was so sincere that they didn't have the nerve to tell her she had gotten them mixed up.

* * *

Later that night, after they had settled in and their grandma had fed them multiple times, Hikaru was trying to watch television on the much smaller and older TV in the cramped room he was sharing with his brother, but Kaoru was keeping that from happening. His twin was pacing back and forth in front of the screen, frequently interrupting Hikaru's line of site, and babbling loudly on his cellphone with their senpai Tamaki, also a Lost in Translation fan, and covering up the sounds from the show. Finally, Hikaru had had enough and threw an embroidered pillow at his younger brother, knocking the phone out of his unsuspecting hand.

"Do you mind, Hikaru? This is really important." Kaoru reasoned as he picked the small device off the ground and apologized to the boy on the other end.

"Yeah, I do mind, actually. You're blocking the TV." Hikaru retorted as he prepared another pillow to launch at his twin if he didn't comply soon.

"Hikaru, this is so important." Kaoru repeated with a new aura of excitement. He said a quick goodbye before he hung up the phone and ran over to his still unpacked suitcase to rummage through the clothing inside. "Tamaki just told me that he just had a chat about a text quoting a blog about Xavier Labelle! Apparently, he's singing tonight at a club in Tokyo for his girlfriend's birthday party!" He exclaimed without missing a beat as he kicked off his pajama pants and tugged on a pair of jeans.

"And what, you're going?" Hikaru questioned, suddenly losing interest in his TV show. "You know mom won't let you run around an unfamiliar city all by yourself in the middle of the night. This isn't like the Host Club where we have Kyoya's private police force looking out for us."

"Yeah, that's why you're coming." He stated and threw a shirt at his brother, like somehow Hikaru had already agreed to this insane plan.

"Why the hell would I do that? I'm tired and I don't give a damn about your lame fanboy fantasies." Hikaru argued, crossing his arms behind his head and leaning back on the bed, closing his eyes as if he was getting ready to sleep. Normally he would have complied to going out just to be able to explore the fun nightlife of the city with his brother, but he hated Kaoru's obsession with that band and he didn't want to indulge it any further.

"Because Yuukio Kingsley is going to be there." Kaoru replied with a smug smile that he could hear without having to see his brother's face. Hikaru cracked an eye open, his interest peaked at the mention of one of the models that worked for their mom. "It's common knowledge that she and Xavier are good friends. They've been spotted hanging out together tons of times; almost more than his actual girlfriend." Kaoru added with a chuckle.

"So, what? Why would I care about her?" Hikaru argued even though he knew exactly what Kaoru was going to say.

"So, she's super hot and you always flirt with her whenever she does photoshoots for mom." Kaoru responded. It's true, she was really attractive and Hikaru did try to talk to her whenever he saw her, but he never really felt attracted to her in the way Kaoru was implying. Plus, he always thought Kaoru had a small crush on her anyway, so he mostly was just trying to get in his way to annoy him. He didn't know why, but he just had a feeling she wouldn't be good for him. Now that he knew that both Yuukio and Xavier would be there, he felt even more uneasy. Maybe he should go just in case…

"Fine." He finally agreed and sat up while Kaoru cheered in the background. He couldn't shake the feeling that this was a bad idea though.

* * *

Xavier sat in the passenger seat of one of their smaller vans as Vinny drove and Isaac and Stella sat in the back. Music was blasting through the speakers, the bass vibrating the entire car, and Stella was singing at the top of her lungs. The windows were rolled down and Xavier was trying to relax and enjoy the warm breeze of the summer air flying by, but he knew that this was a bad idea. Yes, Monique was important to him, and yes, he felt bad breaking another promise to her, but there was so much riding on this movie deal that if any paparazzi showed up at this party it could be the end of it easily. In all honesty, he didn't really care about it. Music was his passion, his life, not acting, but Jackal and his mom worked so hard to get him this movie deal that him screwing it up like this would just be the biggest "fuck you" to them.

His life had suddenly become this. Every day was full of tough decisions, everywhere he went he had to be careful, and everything he did was watched over. It was stressful and frustrating. He missed the time he spent in music school in America and France where all that mattered was the music: playing it, making it, and getting better at it. Now there was so much more. So many details, formalities, interviews, photoshoots, press, and meetings that there was only a fraction of time spent on the actual music. And Xavier had been assumed the leader of the band because he was the front man so it all fell on his shoulders.

He reflexively grabbed a cigarette from the case he always kept on him and lit it as he felt the creeping of his anxiety crawling up in the back of his mind. He took a long drag, feeling the comforting scratch of the smoke down his throat, before he exhaled it out of his window in a sigh, already feeling a little of its relief.

"Are you alright, man?" Vinny asked when he noticed the cigarette, always worried whenever his friend reached for a smoke.

"Huh? Oh, yeah I'm fine." Xavier answered, being pulled back to reality.

"Good! This party is going to be fucking awesome!" Stella exclaimed from her seat in the back and she also hit Xavier's shoulder for good measure.

"Ow!" he complained, rubbing the now sore spot. Stella always got excited too easily.

"Hey, we can't stay too long. Just a couple of songs and then we're out of there, understand?" Isaac, the voice of reason in the group, reminded them from his spot next to Stella. He had always been the only collected and responsible one. "The longer we stay, the bigger the chances are of our absence being discovered."

"Ah, stop being such a hard ass all the time, Isaac." Stella teased as they rolled into an alley where the back door of the venue was situated. There were a lot of people lined up out front, trying in vain to get in, and they didn't want to risk getting caught by the paparazzi. Isaac just rolled his eyes and ignored her remark, used to those kinds of comments by now.

"Come on, we don't have much time." Vinny announced as he turned the engine off and hopped out. The others followed and made their way to the back doors of the van and took out their guitars and some minimal equipment. Xavier really hoped the drum kit and all of the other electrical stuff was already set up for them as they rushed into the building.

* * *

It was already well into the night when the twins' Uber arrived at the venue the party was at. There was a group of paparazzi and a line of people at the doors trying to get in, and tons of other oblivious bystanders were littering the sidewalk wondering what all the commotion was. Hikaru felt a sinking feeling in his stomach and he wanted nothing more than to turn around and, for once, go back to his grandmother's house. He could tell this was going to take more effort than it was worth.

"Hikaru, don't back out now!" Kaoru whined, reading his twin like a book. "At least give it a chance. You know how important this is too me."

Hikaru was well aware of that. His brother had spent two hours after Hikaru finally agreed, deciding on an outfit and styling his hair in weird and different ways. He had ultimately decided on casual jeans and a short-sleeved button up, an outfit he had worn multiple times before, and styled his hair normally. Hikaru was already a little peeved about that, and this commotion was just making his mood worsen even more.

"I don't know…" Hikaru trailed off, trying to look everywhere except at Kaoru's pouty face. Kaoru was about to retaliate when there was suddenly loud screaming coming from inside the building followed by a blast of music. Kaoru's head whipped around toward the noise.

"Oh my God, they're here." He whispered to no one before sprinting off to join the crowd of people pushing on the doors. Hikaru cursed to himself, unsure what to do now. He couldn't go back without Kaoru, and he wasn't about to leave his brother alone in the middle of Tokyo at night anyway, but he didn't want to face the mob to retrieve him either.

With a sigh he sat on the curb and pulled his phone out to distract himself. He figured in ten or fifteen minutes the crowd would realize that they weren't going to be able to get in and would disperse. However, after thirty minutes the doors opened and he saw Kaoru slip in. God damnit Kaoru. Hikaru tried to calculate how long it might take for the performance to end. Concerts usually last for an hour, right? Maybe two? He hadn't been to one since middle school, so he wasn't entirely sure. He did know though that his ass hurt and Kaoru had his cell phone on him, so he decided to wander around and find a cafe or restaurant to wait at instead.

Hikaru stood up and assessed his surroundings in the dimly lit street in front of the building. He didn't want to walk around too much because he was worried of getting lost, but he recalled a small cafe they had passed on their way here. Looking around, he noticed an alley to the right of the building that seemed to end on the next street and Hikaru realized it was a shortcut to the street where that cafe was.

Making his decision, he started heading down the alley. It was completely abandoned, especially compared to the street he was just on, but there was a suspicious van parked in the middle of it. And by suspicious he means a white, unmarked van with blacked-out windows that looked like the perfect tool for a kidnapping. Hikaru was hesitant to approach it, but the narrow walls of the alley meant he would have to walk right past the driver's side. Among closer inspection, he determined it was empty and not a threat so he tried to quickly walk past it. He was interrupted however by a door he hadn't noticed before opening from the building to his left and hitting him in the head. Hard.

"Fuck!" he exclaimed as he lost his balance and fell to the ground. His vision went black for a second but, when it came back, he noticed a figure slouching over him and yelling something that was muffled from the aftershock of the impact. He suddenly remembered the van and panicked.

"Pervert!" He yelled as he tried, and failed, to push and kick his kidnapper away because of what he blamed on his dizziness. His senses were slowly returning however, and Hikaru was starting to become aware of his situation. His head was still throbbing and his right forearm stung from where it had probably scraped the concrete, but he realized his attacker was actually a really attractive young man that looked even more scared than Hikaru did.

"No, no I'm not a pervert! Please stop screaming!" The other man exclaimed from his crouched position next to Hikaru, obviously unsure of what to do. Wait, his voice was extremely familiar… Where did he know it from?

"Oh my God! You're Xavier Labelle!" Hikaru yelled, sitting up and almost hitting his head, again, with the other man's. He could recognize that weird French accent anywhere from the amount of times Kaoru played his songs around him.

"Shh! Not so loud." Xavier shushed him, clamping his hand over the twin's mouth. "I'll give you backstage passes to our next concert if you please stop screaming."

"I don't want to go to your stupid concert." Hikaru complained, pushing his hand away. Xavier looked surprised, obviously not expecting that reaction from someone he assumed to be a fan, and there was a pause between the two.

"Oh shit, you're bleeding." Xavier noticed, coming back to his senses as a red line trickled from Hikaru's hairline down his forehead. Hikaru could feel it and instinctively tried to wipe the blood away, but more just followed. "Fuck" Xavier muttered, searching around for something to put on it before realizing what he had to do. He looked down at his new, black t-shirt with a frown before reluctantly pulling it off and wadding it up.

"Whoa, what are you doing?" Hikaru questioned, trying to seem appalled but he honestly couldn't stop looking at Xavier's toned stomach. Did this man have any flaws? It was actually just making Hikaru hate him even more. Said man didn't notice, distracted as he put the shirt onto the source of the bleeding.

"Here, hold this and apply pressure." Xavier said, taking Hikaru's hand before guiding it in place and gently pushing down on it himself. Hikaru noticed that he was shaking.

"Hey, are you okay, man?" Hikaru asked, suddenly worrying more about his attacker's well being than his own.

"Wha-" Xavier started, but he was interrupted when the door flew open again, this time hitting Xavier in the shin, and three people filed out followed by loud music and Stella's high-pitched voice.

"Ow! Damit!" Xavier cried, letting go of Hikaru's hand to clutch his now injured leg.

"Holy shit, man! What the fuck are you doing?" Vinny screamed, noticing the pair sitting on the ground. The dim lighting and the angle they were at and also the fact that Xavier wasn't wearing a shirt probably made their position look a little more compromising than it actually was.

"You hit my fucking shin with that goddamn door!" Xavier spit back in his rush for accusation before remembering the real problem at hand. "Oh, and I also hit this guy in the head when I opened the door to come out."

"Oh my God, he's bleeding." Stella pointed out, gasping.

"Yeah, we need to get him to a hospital." Xavier said, as he started getting up and helped Hikaru stand with him.

"I'll go get Monique." Stella announced turning to run back into the building.

"No!" Xavier protested, stopping the drummer in her tracks. "Don't bother her at her birthday party… get Yuukio. She'll know what to do." Stella nodded before continuing into the building. Hikaru groaned, remembering Yuukio and suddenly feeling really embarrassed about her seeing him this way. This earned him worried glances from the other three males, thinking it was from pain.

"I'm going to look for a first aid kit. I think I saw one in the bathroom earlier." Isaac suggested, following the path of his bandmate back into the small venue.

Vinny helped Xavier get Hikaru to a standing position and they leaned him against the van. The sudden change in altitude had him feeling dizzy again and he felt bile crawling up his throat. After a second of fighting it, he finally leaned over and threw up his grandmother's dinner all over Vinny's shoes.

"Oh, are you fucking kidding me, man?" Vinny cried in disbelief. "I literally got these Docs yesterday. That's just fucking amazing."

Hikaru ignored his complaining and tried to rub his mouth clean before straightening up again.

"Fuck, we really need to get him to a hospital." Xavier told Vinny, worried that the injury was more serious than he had first assumed. "Vinny, help me get him into the van."

They started making their way around the white vehicle, each of the older men supporting Hikaru on either side, when Stella and Yuukio came out. Yuukio looked exactly the same as he remembered from when he last saw her almost a year ago. She had long, straight black hair that was currently pulled in a tight ponytail and her fitted, white dress showed off her perfect figure. Basically, she was really attractive, but that was to be expected of one of Japan's most famous models. Hikaru immediately turned his head down and groaned at seeing her and Xavier glanced at him, probably worried he was going to throw up again.

"Xavier, what happened?" Yuukio asked as she made her way over to them, her heels clicking on the cold cement. "And why aren't you wearing a shirt?"

"I hit this guy in the head with that fucking door when I was walking out to the van. I gave him my shirt because it started bleeding and I didn't know what else to do." Xavier explained. "We need to get him to a hospital. He just threw up and I'm worried he has a concussion."

There was a pause when the clicking stopped and Hikaru could tell the model had stopped in front of them. Hikaru finally looked up at the girl and Yuukio gasped when she saw him.

"Hey, Yuukio, how you've been?" Hikaru greeted with a smirk, his usual confident tone a little slurred, trying to hide his embarrassment.

"Oh my God! What are you doing here?" She wondered, suddenly a lot more worried. Hikaru realized that she didn't know which twin he was and he decided not to inform her. It was entertaining watching her squirm in confusion.

"Wait, you guys know each other?" Vinny asked, looking between the two.

"I work for his mom. She's like the biggest fashion designer in Japan. Shit, she's going to kill me if she finds out this happened to you here." She sighed. "Wait, where's your brother?" She asked knowing that the twins were notorious for being practically inseparable.

"He's the reason I'm here. He's a huge fan of yours, by the way." He mentioned sarcastically, looking up at Xavier before continuing. "Anyway, he's probably looking for me right now. I can feel my phone vibrating in my pocket. I don't need to go to the hospital. I just want to go home, please." Hikaru begged to the small group.

"No way in Hell." Xavier protested. "The last thing I need is you dying because of this and it ending up on the front page of the newspaper tomorrow morning."

"Oh, is that all you care about? Some bad press ruining your perfect little image?" Hikaru mocked getting really sick of this man pushing him around.

"Right now, yeah." Xavier spit back, also getting irritated with him.

"Enough arguing you two, I have a plan." Yuukio announced, earning everyone's attention.  
"I'll go find your brother since I know him and give him a ride home. Xavier, you take him to a private doctor that you can trust to be quiet about this because you did this so now he's your responsibility. The rest of you, take a cab and get home as quickly and quietly as possible and cover for Xavier if you can. Everyone understand?" They all nodded, honestly a little afraid to protest Yuukio when she gets like this. "Good. Text me in ten with updates." She instructed before pulling out her phone and making her way out of the alley and onto the busy street.

"Are you going to be okay?" Vinny asked Xavier. They were currently trying to get a protesting Hikaru into the passenger seat of the van and Stella went back into the building to find Isaac.

"Yeah, I'll call Renge and ask her for a private doctor. She knows Japan better than we do and I'm sure she has connections somewhere." Xavier reassured his friend as they finally got Hikaru buckled in.

"No man, I mean, you're shaking."

Hikaru looked at the singer's hands and noticed their not so subtle movement. Xavier glanced at Hikaru, nervous that he had heard too much. The two held eye contact for a second too long before Xavier quickly shut the passenger's side door, cutting Hikaru off from the conversation.

"Yeah, I'm totally fine. It's just adrenaline from everything happening all at once." Xavier lied as he made his way to the other side of the van. The last thing he needed was someone else worrying about him right now. Vinny squinted at him, seeing straight through his lie, but didn't protest.

"Fine, but take this." He said, shrugging off the flannel he had layered over his plain white t-shirt and throwing it to Xavier. Xavier caught it, momentarily forgetting that he was still shirtless, and pulled it over his arms.

"Thanks man!" He exclaimed while buttoning up the shirt, noticing the concern still clouding his friend's expression. Xavier ignored him and climbed into the driver's seat. "I'll see you later!" he called before turning the engine on and quickly driving out of the alley. Hikaru noticed the little cafe he had been attempting to reach that had caused this huge mess as they turned into the street. He finally sighed in defeat, giving into his current situation.

"I literally hate you, you realize?" Hikaru told the celebrity, being his usual blunt and incredibly rude self.

"It's nice to meet you, too, uh? I'm sorry, what's your name?" Xavier asked, not sounding apologetic at all honestly. Hikaru snorted at his response. He was definitely not the super charming and charismatic it boy that appeared on TV.

"It's Hikaru, actually. I can understand why you'd have trouble with that considering no one has ever forgotten your name." Hikaru retorted, glaring at his window but ignoring the city passing by.

"You know, you're such a little shit. You don't know the first thing about me." Xavier argued back. The more time he spent with this guy, the more he disliked him.

"Oh, trust me; I know more than I care to. My brother hasn't shut up about you and your lame band for the past month." Hikaru countered. Xavier was about to respond with his own mean comment when Hikaru's phone began to vibrate again and he shushed the singer to answer. Xavier glared at the twin for not being allowed to give his two cents, but instead checked his own phone for the information on the location of the doctor he was supposed to go to. He did not condone texting and driving usually, but he considered this an emergency. Although an irritating one at that.

"What's up?" Hikaru said as he answered the phone call.

"Thank God! Hikaru, where have you been? I've been calling and texting you like crazy and you haven't answered. And now Yuukio just showed up trying to tell me everything's alright and she's taking me home? I'm not leaving without you so you better get your ass over here!" Kaoru ranted in what Hikaru believed was all one breath. He was touched by his brother's loyalty, but a little peeved that he would end up spending time with Yuukio alone because of this.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but you need to go with Yuukio." Hikaru said reluctantly, and he nervously glanced at the teen rock sensation and object of his brother's crazed affections sitting in the seat next to him before continuing. "You know me, super clumsy. I totally fell during all the commotion and hit my head, but it was honestly no big deal. These security guys want me to go to the hospital to make sure everything checks out so there's no bad rep for their club." he lied while glaring at Xavier and he was satisfied when the other man fidgeted a bit under his gaze. "I should be home soon. Don't freak out okay?"

"Fine, but just keep your phone on you and actually answer me when I call this time, okay?" Kaoru gave in, but Hikaru could feel the doubt in his voice.

"Yeah, of course. See you soon!" He said before hanging up.

"Why'd you lie to him?" Xavier questioned, almost immediately after the call ended.

"Huh?" Hikaru wondered, taken off guard by the sudden question.

"You said your brother was a fan, but you lied and didn't tell him you met me. Wouldn't you want him to know that?" Xavier asked, his eyes glancing between Hikaru and the road in what had to be an unsafe manner of driving.

"Yeah, I guess I just didn't want him to be disappointed by the truth." Hikaru told him, not making eye contact even though he could feel the other man's gaze on him.

"Oh." Xavier whispered. Hikaru could tell he had hit a nerve in the blonde and he wondered if he had crossed a line. The mood in the van suddenly felt raw from a still tension hanging in the air, and Hikaru turned further away and stared out his window, too stubborn to admit fault or apologize.

There was an uncomfortable silence between the two, neither knowing what else to say. The next fifteen minutes seemed to draw on for hours before they finally reached the hospital and parked in a secluded back area. Xavier reached past Hikaru in a seemingly awkward gesture and into the glove compartment where he pulled out black ray-bans and a matching black baseball hat and threw them on in a trained fashion. He then glanced around frantically before reaching into the back seat and grabbing white-framed glasses and a black leather jacket that looked strangely familiar and threw them onto Hikaru's lap.

"Put those on." He instructed before hopping out of the van. Hikaru reluctantly did as he was told and followed suit, entering the fluorescent building right behind his new acquaintance. Xavier pulled his hat further down before approaching the receptionist and whispering to her. She then gestured to a waiting nurse they hadn't noticed before who led the pair through a side door opening into a stairwell with concrete walls and floors. The group headed up two flights of stairs before reaching another door at the top which led to a much nicer hallway with dark carpeted floors, pastel yellow walls, and fogged glass doors lining either side. They went through one of the doors on their right into an average looking commoner's checkup room where a tall and dark-skinned man with a bald head and long white coat waited for them. The nurse closed the door and left without a single word.

"You must be Xavier." The doctor presumed, sticking his hand out to the singer and Xavier shook it. "You can call me Sanjay. Renge informed me of your situation. This will stay between us, okay?" He said in a well-practiced grin.

"Thank you, sir." Xavier responded. "My uh… friend here hit his head on a door. I just want you to check to make sure he's okay and doesn't have a concussion or anything." He explained, gesturing to his now "friend" standing beside him. Hikaru inwardly snorted at Xavier still trying to maintain his perfect reputation even to a doctor sworn to secrecy.

Sanjay looked at Hikaru and gestured towards the elevated exam table in the middle of the room and Hikaru walked over and hopped onto it. The doctor proceeded to examine the injury and asked Hikaru questions while he checked the twins sight, hearing, and coordination. Xavier, who was intensely watching the scene from a chair in the corner and wringing his hands nervously, jumped when his phone suddenly rang.

"Hello?" Xavier answered and Hikaru couldn't help but glance over at the man as he tried to decipher the one-sided conversation. "Shit!... I know, I'm sorry… I'm really sorry…Yeah, I know… I'm sorry… No, nobody saw me… I'll be there as soon as I can… Thanks, bye." With that, he hung up and gave out a long, tired sigh. Hikaru could tell he had just gotten lectured by someone over the phone and he briefly wondered why it was taking such an emotional toll on Xavier.

"Good news," Sanjay began, interrupting Hikaru's thoughts. "It's not a concussion. I do recommend you ice it when you get home however to reduce the swelling, and if it hurts too much take an aspirin or two. Call me if you feel any more nausea or lingering pain." Hikaru nodded along as the doctor went through his instructions.

"So, he's good?" Xavier asked, jumping from his chair to stand next to Sanjay and looked Hikaru up and down. "We can go?"

"Yes, but make sure to take the stairwell and leave through the back exit again. The photographers are already in the waiting room." He informed them.

"Damn it! Okay." Xavier exclaimed and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "Alright, well thank you so much Sanjay," he said, and Hikaru's eyes widened as the singer gave a deep bow. "We really owe you."

"Oh, it's really no problem!" The doctor assured, waving his hands flustered and ushering for the boy in front of him to stand up. "You don't need to bow."

"It's fine." He affirmed, straightening up and giving one last nod towards the doctor before glancing at Hikaru. "Let's go."

Hikaru rolled his eyes, annoyed about the whole display, but jumped down from the table. He said one last thank you to Sanjay before following the singer out of the room. As the door closed behind them, the sounds of commotion reached them from the waiting room down the hall.

"Shit." Xavier cursed under his breath and instinctively put back on the cap and sunglasses he had removed in the examination room. He glanced at Hikaru and pulled up the hoody on his jacket and ducked the twin's head down as he led them through the hallway. "Put the glasses on." He told him, too distracted by not getting caught to notice the glare on Hikaru's face. When the two finally got down the stairwell, slipped out the back, and tiptoed to the van, Xavier let himself breathe again.

"Okay, we're going to make a quick stop and then I'll take you home." Xavier stated as he turned on the engine.

"Are you kidding me?" Hikaru groaned, just wanting this night to be over. He remembered how he had just been planning on watching television and falling asleep before his brother had dragged him out and unknowingly into this mess. "I didn't want any of this to happen."

"Yeah me neither, princess." Xavier snapped back, obviously starting to get frustrated with Hikaru's attitude. "But this is a little bit more important than your beauty rest."

Hikaru swore that if the other man hadn't started driving already, he would've reached out and strangled him.

"Right, my bad. I forgot that being some big rockstar makes all your problems way more important than some little nobody like me." Hikaru retorted with sarcasm dripping from his words.

"Aghhh!" Xavier shouted, words failing to describe how extremely frustrated he was at the redhead. "You can't even say that! Your mom is like, one of the biggest fashion designers in Japan!"

"That doesn't mean my face is plastered on every billboard and TV show in the country and I have a bunch of rabid fans and crazy paparazzi following me around on a daily basis!" Hikaru yelled back, his own frustration of having his night involuntarily consumed by the other man seeping into his words.

"Why are you like this?" Xavier questioned, his tone changing as his focus shifted while he attempted to switch lanes. "You don't even know me."

"I know too much, if you ask me." Hikaru complained, pointedly staring out his window to ignore the other man.

"Whatever," Xavier grumbled, deciding to turn his attention to driving instead of idle arguing. Hikaru, for once, agreed with this unspoken notion, and let the Tokyo skyline distract him as it passed his window. The thought of sleep was still in the back of his mind and the lulling of the van was soothing and soon Hikaru felt his eyelids drooping. By the time they pulled into a small underground parking garage, the twin was drifting in and out of sleep, his head bobbing slightly. "Hey, we're here."

Hikaru glanced up sleepily and nodded, still not knowing where "here" was, and tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes as he scrambled out of the car. Hikaru noticed that the garage was small, obviously privately owned, and packed with high-end luxury brand cars. Instantly, Hikaru spotted a Porsche, BMW, and Lamborghini, and he reevaluated whatever pity he had started to feel towards Xavier and his 'being famous is hard' problems.

"Where exactly is 'here'?" Hikaru questioned, as Xavier led him through a door and up a set of stairs.

"My house." Xavier replied as they went through another door at the top of the stairs that led to a hallway in the main house. They turned the corner into a large living room with sleek and modern, western-styled furnishings and a monochromatic color palette. It looked straight out of a high-end furniture magazine, everything arranged to be picture perfect but like nobody actually lived there yet. Hikaru, being extremely wealthy himself, was not shocked at the extravagance of the other man's house and didn't comment, but he did mentally try to calculate the retail value of a house like this in Tokyo and compare it to his own. A glass wall on the other side of the room revealed an elegant party occurring in the backyard beyond it around a small pool and dimly lit patio.

"What's going on?" Hikaru questioned as he further surveyed the crowd. "Some kind of event?"

"Kind of." Xavier replied, and he ducked Hikaru's head and pulled him into another hallway before anyone noticed their arrival.

"What? Scared your friends will see you with someone not up to your ridiculous level of stardom." Hikaru mocked as he let the other teen lead him up a spiral staircase.

"Look, I wasn't supposed to go out tonight and my uncle is really mad at me because he found out." He began to explain as they walked up to a large black door. "And if he figures out about what happened with you too he's going to get even more pissed at me." Hikaru was actually kind of surprised at how normal the problem was for a teenager their age, and not something he thought a famous rockstar would have to worry about, but he didn't comment on it. Xavier dug through his pocket before pulling out a small, silver key and unlocking the door.

"You lock your room?" Hikaru wondered.

"Yeah, I have problems with people going through my stuff." He explained, glancing at the redhead over his shoulder while opening the door for them. "So, don't go through my stuff." He warned as he allowed the stranger into his room.

"Why would I even want to?" Hikaru retorted, more to anger the entitled teenager than anything, as he walked past him.

The room was massive, with walls alternating between black and white covered in posters, a huge fluffy rug that matched the color scheme, and a large floor to ceiling window encompassing half of the far wall. The unmade king-sized bed was low to the ground and framed by a large bookcase filled with more CD's and records than he had ever seen in his life. In the corner, a desk was overflowing in what looked like sheet music and a row of guitars and a keyboard were lined up next to it. The floor was messy, littered with clothes making the space look a lot more cluttered, and on the adjoining wall he spotted two more doors which he assumed lead to a bathroom and a closet while a huge plasma screen TV hung in the space between them. Hikaru wasn't sure what he was expecting, but seeing a room so well-worn and personal, especially compared to the rest of the house, felt like overstepping a boundary.

"Sorry its messy." Xavier apologized, interpreting the twin's surprised expression the wrong way. "I have to go make an appearance downstairs and talk to some guests but I'll be back as soon as I can to take you home." He explained and walked back to the open doorway. "Please, just don't leave this room." He begged as he backed out, one hand on the door knob. "And for the love of God, please don't touch my stuff." He didn't give the twin a chance to respond before he closed the door and left Hikaru alone in the room.

Hikaru stood there for a second, absorbing the extremely personal side of Xavier's life he had just been exposed to, before the sound of distant music and chatter led him to the large window on the opposite wall. Below, he could see the party in full swing in the backyard. Palm trees lined the perimeter and the pool was the centerpiece to the event, being illuminated in different colors by a changing underwater light. The partygoers were dressed in cocktail dresses and button ups, with waiters carrying food buzzing around them, and Xavier instantly stuck out in his ripped jeans and flannel.

He watched the blonde mohawk make its way across the backyard, being stopped numerous times by other guests along the way, before approaching a group of four people consisting of two older men and two young girls. One man seemed familiar with Xavier, patting him on the shoulder in greeting, and Hikaru speculated that he was his uncle with similar blonde hair, while the other man only offered him a stern handshake. Hikaru briefly wondered if that man was the reason why coming back here had been so important, but he dismissed it once he saw Xavier quickly walk away after only chatting with them for about a minute or so. Xavier made his way back into the house, and Hikaru thought he was going to come back up to the room, when he reemerged moments later with an acoustic guitar clutched in his hands.

At that moment, Hikaru noticed that the other side of the window was actually a sliding door leading onto a small balcony, and he fumbled with it before quickly opening it and making his way into the night air. Even though it was summer, a chilly breeze sent a shiver through him, and he subconsciously gripped the leather jacket he was still wearing. By the time he refocused on Xavier, the singer was sitting on a stool in front of the pool, his guitar nestled in his lap, and everyone's attention was on him.

"This is something I've been working on for my new album." Xavier announced to the crowd and silence fell across the backyard. "It's not meant to be played on guitar, but I can adjust it a little." He explained. With that, the singer strummed the first chord of the song and Hikaru leaned onto the railing in anticipation.

" _When the moon fell in love with the sun, all was golden in the sky, all was golden when the day met the night_."

Hikaru gasped when he made eye contact with the other man, surprised at being caught watching him, but Xavier just smiled slightly and continued without a hitch.

" _When the sun found the moon, she was drinking tea in a garden, under the green umbrella trees in the middle of summer. When the moon found the sun, he looked like he was barely hanging on, but her eyes saved his life in the middle of summer"_ Suddenly, the song picked up and Xavier closed his eyes, belting out the chorus. " _In the middle of summer, all was golden in the sky, all was golden when the day met the night."_

Hikaru relaxed into the song, listening to Xavier's voice laid bare, stripped of all the instrumentation and production of his usual music. The rawness of his pure voice accompanied by just the guitar allowed an emotional exposure that resonated within Hikaru. He could tellXavier was pouring every ounce of his soul into his singing and he could feel the fluttering excitement of the summer love he was describing. It was captivating.

" _So he said, 'Would it be all right if we just sat and talked for a little while. if in exchange for your time I give you this smile?' So she said, 'That's okay as long as you can make a promise not to break my little heart or leave me all alone in the summer.'"_ He continued, and Hikaru couldn't help but smile along with the narrative. There was something innocent and playful about the love story Xavier was proposing, something new and exciting while also being nostalgic and innocent, and for a moment Hikaru couldn't help but follow along and be swept away in the charming lyrics.

" _Well he was just hanging around, then he fell in love, and he didn't know how but he couldn't get out. Just hanging around, then he fell in love."_

With one last glance at the blonde, Hikaru pushed away from the ledge and made his way back into the room. He could still hear the muffled song even after he slid the glass door shut, and he found his feet taking him towards the bed. It was late, and the fatigue he had felt earlier returned to him all at once. He tucked himself in, replacing the sheets as best as he could, and was intoxicated by a sweet, musty smell. He realized that this must be Xavier's scent and he took one last inhale of it before he felt his eyelids droop and the last chords of the song echoed through the room.

* * *

"Hikaru, you need to wake up." Hikaru heard distantly as his shoulders were shaken.

"Mhm, five more minutes." He grumbled, turning away from the intruder and sinking his face deeper into the comforter. He inhaled the now familiar scent of the sheets once again and hummed at how comfortable he felt surrounded by it now. The smell reminded him of the breeze on a summer night or the sound of an acoustic guitar or a song about the moon and the sun.

"No, you can't sleep here, Hikaru. It'll be worse if I tried to sneak you out tomorrow morning than if I did tonight." Xavier explained, still trying to shake the other boy out of his slumber.

"Why do you care so much about what people think of you?" Hikaru wondered out loud. It was supposed to be a tease but his muffled brain wasn't sure if it registered as one. The hands at his shoulders tensed suddenly and if Hikaru hadn't been so tired, he would've opened his eyes to see what expression the other man was wearing. They sat like that for a second, frozen in silence, and Hikaru had almost nodded off again when Xavier finally sighed in defeat.

"You're a stubborn ass, you know that?" Xavier complained, and Hikaru felt strong hands pushing underneath him and wrapping around his body. With a grunt, he was lifted off the mattress and into Xavier's arms. Hikaru was too tired to protest, already feeling himself drifting off in the gentle embrace. They took a second to readjust themselves before the blonde began to carry him out of the room. At some point on their way down the stairs, Hikaru leaned his head against Xavier's chest and that familiar smell of suns, and moons, and summer lulled him back to sleep.

* * *

When Hikaru woke up again, he had a painful crick in his neck and a thin line of drool creeping out of the corner of his mouth. He blinked a couple times, trying to take in his surroundings through his sleepy haze. It was dark, and he was in the passenger seat of a car he didn't recognize, and through the window he saw the Tokyo skyline glittering in the distance, the sky behind it painted in a deep purple that foreshadowed the upcoming sunrise. It was at that moment that he realized he didn't know where he was and he lurched forward, the seat belt stopping him and quickly tugging him back.

"Well it's about fucking time, sleeping beauty." Announced an irritating French accent from his left and Hikaru inwardly groaned when he slowly recalled the events of the previous night and glanced at his companion. Xavier had his eyes on the empty road ahead of them, one hand on the steering wheel and the other dangling out the open window, a cigarette lazily burning in his grip.

"Why the fuck am I still with you?" Hikaru complained. "And what time is it?" he asked, gesturing toward the incoming sunrise.

"You fell asleep on my bed during the party and wouldn't wake up so I had to carry you to the car. Apparently, you're just as stubborn as you are annoying." Xavier began to explain, and Hikaru turned away to hide his blush as he remembered that part. "But then I realized I didn't know where you lived, and I was scared that if I woke you up you would just be even grumpier than before and yell at me, so I just drove around waiting for you to wake up." Hikaru felt his blush deepen and he put a hand over his face in another attempt to hide it.

"I am not grumpy!" He exclaimed "And that is the worst excuse ever like who the hell does that?"

"I have trouble sleeping anyway and go on drives like this to relax sometimes," Xavier told him, too tired to snap back at his arguing as they pulled up to a stop light. "So, adding your ugly drooling face to the picture wasn't much of an issue." He joked turning to look at the twin. Hikaru didn't think it was possible for his blush to deepen any more, but he felt the flush spread down his neck and up his ears as he realized the singer had seen him drooling. He glanced at the chuckling blonde beside him and realized he had noticed the blush.

"Fuck off." Hikaru mumbled, blaming his sleep deprived mind on why he couldn't come up with a better comeback but feeling very much awake anyway. Xavier took a long drag of his cigarette before craning his neck to blow the smoke through the window and out of the car. Hikaru watched the cloud of smoke swirl in the summer breeze before being swept away by it, disappearing into the early morning air. It was beautiful, but in some tragic way that Hikaru couldn't quite place. "Smoking's bad for you, you know." Hikaru stated, not knowing what else to say.

"Trust me, Vinny makes sure I'm extremely aware of that." Xavier told him with a chuckle, but the noise fell flat in his ears. "I need it to relax or else I'm just a big mess of stress and anxiety." He explained. Hikaru stared back at him, not exactly sure how to respond. His mind told him to break the moment with some snarky comment, but his gut stopped him.

The car rolled forward when the light turned green, and Xavier took one last drag before reaching the end of the cigarette and throwing it onto the road outside. Hikaru noticed a sign labeling the area where his grandma lived and finally spoke up.

"Take this exit." He instructed and Xavier turned in response, crossing over into the exit lane. He quietly directed the other man for the rest of the drive and within twenty minutes they were parked in front of the small apartment building.

"Isn't it going to be hard sneaking back into your house now that it's almost morning." Hikaru asked as he unbuckled his seatbelt and gestured towards the deep reds and oranges that had appeared in the sky. He wasn't really sure why he asked, but the question had been out of his mouth before he had completely processed it.

"Nah, I'm going to crash at Yuukio's place probably. Or maybe the band house if she already left for work." Xavier explained and he could see the other man forming a plan for his day in his head from the way he squinted his eyes and looked off slightly. Hikaru felt a new wave of embarrassment at Yuukio's name and remembered the state the beautiful model had last seen him in.

"You don't live with your bandmates?" Hikaru asked, trying to ignore that feeling but mentally kicked himself for asking another useless question. His hand was on the door, but he looked at the other man instead of opening it.

"Yeah, it's kind of complicated. I just-" Xavier began, but glanced at the redhead and hesitated. Hikaru could see the different emotions passing over the singer's eyes as he worked through his response and Hikaru wondered what he was hiding. "I just need my own space." He finally settled on. Hikaru raised an eyebrow but didn't pester anymore, finally content to open the door and slip out.

"Thanks for the ride." He said over his shoulder, in lieu of a goodbye, and closed the door firmly behind him.

"Hikaru-" The blonde called out to him, and Hikaru turned back, staring at him through the rolled down window. Xavier paused and looked into his eyes, as if searching for the right words to say. Hikaru stared right back, noticing for the first time the piercing light blue of Xavier's tired eyes, framed by streaks of dark purple underneath them. The moment dragged on for a couple seconds, and Hikaru found himself starting to lean forward in anticipation, before the realization of what they were doing dawned on him and he jolted out of it.

"Dude, are you gay?" Hikaru joked, trying to brush off the awkwardness of the moment. The other man practically jumped in his seat, shock written in his expression and Hikaru noticed his grip on the steering wheel tighten.

"What?! No!" The man exclaimed, his eyes looking at everything but Hikaru as he flustered for an answer. "I don't-" He began "I mean, I would never-"

"Oh my God, you totally are!" Hikaru realized, and he couldn't suppress a laugh.

"No! I-" Xavier's eyes widened as he stumbled over his words, which just made the twin laugh harder. "Ugh whatever," Xavier admitted with a sigh, accepting defeat. "It's not like I'll ever see you again anyway." Hikaru's head shot up at this, cutting off his laughter. "Goodbye, Hikaru." Xavier said, sparing one last glance at him before driving away.

Hikaru watched the car recede, and didn't look away until it turned a corner and out of his view. He didn't let his thoughts linger on what Xavier said, and instead focused on quietly slipping past the front door. It was still really early, so he knew no one would be awake for a couple more hours. He tiptoed to the room he was sharing with his twin and peeled off his clothes before slipping underneath the covers, the entire time extremely careful not to wake up the light sleeper quietly snoring on the bed across from him.

The window at the foot of their beds danced with color as light from the sunrise poured between the dusty blinds and into the small room. Hikaru's body was practically buzzing as he replayed the events of the night over and over in his head, all sense of sleep completely gone. After a while, he gave up on that and focused on watching the sun as it broke the horizon in a sweep of dazzling yellows and oranges and rose into a golden sky.


	2. Fucked Up

Chapter 2: Fucked Up

When Hikaru woke up, it was to an empty room and the muffled sounds of pots and pans outside his door. The sun was now high in the sky, staring down at him from its perch outside the window. He had kicked off his covers at some point, and the rays of sunlight pierced through his blinds and painted stripes down his body, warming him better than the blanket ever could.

He slowly peeled his eyes open and watched dust lazily dancing in a stream of light on the bed in front of him. The moment seemed to be suspended in time, infinite and yet fleeting in a way he couldn't describe, and he couldn't help but reflect on the distant memories that swirled in the back of his mind in a movement similar to the dust he was watching.

Xavier's face lulled through his thoughts, those piercing blue eyes underlined by dark purple streaks, along with cigarette smoke floating in the summer breeze, the sound of an acoustic guitar harmonizing with the singing of cicadas, the sun breaking over the horizon and exploding in warm hues of reds and yellows. But he wasn't sure how much of it was real and how much of it he had dreamt up. It was like a poem of images, metaphoric for a feeling that was new and foreign to him, but not necessarily unpleasant.

He finally rolled over, deciding not to entertain that train of thought for any longer, and stretched the rest of the sleep out of his limbs. He got up and rubbed dried drool from his chin as he made his way to the adjacent bathroom and went through his morning routine before strolling to the kitchen.

"What's for breakfast?" He asked through a yawn, as he came into the small, old fashion room. His grandmother was at the rusty oven, stirring something in a pot, and his brother was standing next to her, a mixing bowl in his hands and flower dusted in his hair.

"Breakfast?" Kaoru questioned, looking up at his twin. "It's almost lunch time." Hikaru grunted in disbelief before glancing at the round clock on the wall. He stood there for a minute, trying to remember how to read a clock in his sleepy haze, before noticing that it was past noon.

"Shit, Kaoru. Why didn't you wake me up?" Hikaru asked as he made his way to the fridge and poured himself a glass of orange juice, ignoring his grandma's scolding of "language."

"I was going to, but you had this stupid smile on your face and I figured you must be having a really good dream or something." Kaoru explained, and Hikaru tried to hide his blush behind the glass of orange juice as he processed his brother's words. He couldn't remember what he had dreamt about, but he had a pretty good guess. "I also felt bad because I knew you were tired last night, but I still dragged you out and I know you had a shit night."

"Boys," Their grandma warned at the cursing, and they both mumbled a "sorry" back.

"How's your head, by the way?" Kaoru continued, pausing in his mixing to glance at his brother. "It isn't anything serious, right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Hikaru reassured him, trying to remember the doctor's instructions but realizing they had gotten lost at some point in the night. "I'm supposed to look out for pain." He continued as his brother's sustained stare let him know that he was waiting for more information. "And swelling, I think?" Kaoru sighed, setting down his bowl.

"Hikaru-"

"You hit your head, Hikaru?" Their grandmother interrupted, and Hikaru fidgeted under her gaze.

"Yeah, kind of." He began to explain, worried she would scold him for being reckless. "There was this door I didn't see and-"

"I have an ointment for that, come here." She directed, interjecting again to search through the cabinets. He sighed, knowing her outdated grandma ointments weren't going to do anything for the injury.

"I really don't think-" he began, but was cut off once again.

"Nonsense," she insisted, gesturing towards the small kitchen table. Hikaru groaned but complied, slumping into the chair. He heard his brother chuckling behind him as his grandma dug through his hair.

* * *

The next couple of days rolled by in a similar fashion of late mornings and lazy afternoons. That was the last they spoke of that night, and Hikaru graciously didn't question it. The summer temperatures were rising and becoming unbearable in the small, un-air conditioned apartment. Hikaru was sprawled out across the couch in the living room, tapping on his phone while the old box television buzzed in the background. He had a fan pointed on him and the back-screen door was open to allow the breeze in along with the singing of cicadas in the distance. Kaoru was sitting on the floor in front of the couch and directly across from the fan, also on his phone.

He was bored out of his mind, his days consisting of providing manual labor for his grandma and making last minute runs to the corner store to sustain Kaoru's new-found cooking hobby. His mom had left the day before, not being able to stay too long away from her work, and left the twins to themselves. He was jealous as he pictured her in their air conditioned and familiar house and he longed to return to it and his old life and friends. He even missed the fucking host club and Tamaki's oblivious pestering. More than anything though, he wanted to get out of this damn house.

He was jolted out of his thoughts however, when a familiar name was uttered on the small television, and both twins glanced up at it. Hikaru reached for the remote on the short wooden coffee table in front of them, but Kaoru beat him to it and cranked the volume up.

"...Xavier Labelle, lead singer of the famous J-rock band Lost in Translation, was quite busy Friday night as he made a surprise appearance at his girlfriend's birthday party before slipping away unseen and appearing over an hour later for an event at his home in Tokyo." The woman on the TV explained and Hikaru tried not to audibly groan as he replayed the events from that night over in his head for the thousandth time. "It has been confirmed however, that while Monique was at the club for her birthday party all night, Xavier was spotted multiple times throughout the evening with a different mysterious girl on his arm." Hikaru shot up in his seat as two pictures of him and Xavier popped up on the screen, one of them sneaking out of his house and the other in the passenger seat of his car. Xavier's face was clearly visible in both photos, his arm slung around the other silhouette, but Hikaru's face was hidden behind Xavier's arm in the first one and lost in the shadows in the second one. His brother glanced at him from his reaction, but lost interest and continued to scroll through his phone. He had obviously already heard this information on one of his fan blogs and didn't feel the need to keep listening. "While no one can confirm who this girl is, it can be assumed that they spent the night together since they were seen leaving the house together around two in the morning before Xavier came back alone much later the next day."

Hikaru fell back on the couch in shock as the woman casually switched to a different piece of celebrity gossip, unknowingly shattering his entire world. He had been so close to being exposed. If even one of those photographers had managed to capture his face, he would've been caught in what was quite possibly the biggest scandal of his life and would have instantly lost any sense of privacy he once had. He suddenly felt the crushing weight of Xavier's life in the lights and he knew that he wanted nothing to do with it.

"Do people actually believe this shit?" Hikaru asked his brother, the expert on "this shit," as nonchalantly as he possibly could.

"Nah, most people know it's just gossip. A story like this usually pops up every other week or so with a different girl." His brother shrugged continuing to scroll through his phone. "People are kind of suspicious because you can see in the pictures that she was wearing his jacket, but I don't really think that means anything."

Hikaru froze. Fuck, the jacket. _That's_ why it had seemed so familiar, he realized. It was the black leather jacket with the purple hoodie that Xavier always wore when he performed and it was iconic to his fans. Kaoru would recognize it instantly if he saw it and Hikaru searched his mind trying to remember what had happened to it and where he had left it. He was still wearing it when he got home, and he went to their room and stripped it off before… what? Where had he put it?

"Yeah, it's probably just gossip." Hikaru agreed, sitting up and stretching as indifferently as possible. "I'm going to go get a glass of water. Do you want one?" He asked casually, rising from the couch and making his way to the doorway. His brother shook his head and Hikaru took his leave, only beginning to speed walk once he was out of sight, passing the kitchen and going straight for their bedroom.

The room was already starting to become messy without any maids to clean up after them, and Hikaru went straight to a pile of clothes on the floor next to his bed. He dug through it, throwing fabric over his shoulder before reaching the accusing item at the bottom of the heap. He sighed in relief that it had been hidden and mentally kicked himself for making such a dumb mistake. Before even realizing what he was doing, he brought the jacket to his face and inhaled that musty sweet smell of sunshine and summer breezes that could only be Xavier's.

He carefully folded the garment in his lap, realizing that this was the only souvenir he had of that night; the only proof that it had really happened and wasn't just some concoction his sleep-deprived mind had dreamt up. He stood, clutching the soft fabric in his hands, and searched for somewhere to hide it. If he put it in the closet, his brother would definitely find it, and the dresser was too risky. All other compartments were either too small or too obvious and Hikaru was soon becoming flustered and desperate as time ticked on and the jacket still remained in plain sight.

"Hey, Hikaru?" Kaoru called from the hallway. Hikaru almost screamed, and dropped to his knees, quickly shoving the garment in the corner under his bed before his brother walked in. "What are you doing?" Kaoru asked from the doorway when he noticed his twin on the floor.

"Ugh, just looking for something." Hikaru answered, straightening up and brushing his legs off. "What's up?" He asked before his brother could question him any further.

"We're going out." Kaoru smiled, waving the phone he had in his hands. Hikaru shot him a confused look, not opposed to the idea at all but just curious. "While Yuukio was driving me home Friday night, we had a really nice conversation so she gave me her number and promised we would meet up again whenever she had a day off."

"Wow, so you guys really hit it off?" Hikaru teased, trying not to let the bitterness drip into his tone as he remembered his embarrassing experience with her and just generally disastrous night.

"Not like that, dumbass. She said she wanted to see you, too." Kaoru insisted, pushing past his twin to rummage through the closet and Hikaru was so glad he hadn't hidden the jacket in there. "She just texted me saying she had the rest of the day off and asked if we could meet up with her at a park."

"And you didn't ask her about introducing you to Xavier?" Hikaru wondered out loud, trying to sound casual as he remembered the two were friends. He was just surprised that Kaoru wouldn't have jumped at the opportunity to meet his idol, but he still mentally kicked himself for letting his thoughts stray back to that blonde idiot.

"No, I'm not going to ask her that! That would be so rude…" Kaoru trailed off, pulling out a couple of shirts and looking them up and down. Hikaru couldn't help but notice the implied 'but' at the end of that sentence, and he knew his brother was waiting for him to ask, so he complied.

"But…?" He inquired.

"But!" The younger twin exclaimed, turning around to face his brother and momentarily forgetting about the shirts in his excitement. "That park is right in front of Xavier's apartment and it's a well-known fact that he goes there sometimes to write music and fans run into him there all the time." Hikaru couldn't help but smile at his brother's unwary eagerness and he was glad that that blonde idiot at least granted him this one thing.

"Whatever, you dork." He couldn't help but smile back. "Fine, I guess I'll go." He agreed, also making his way over to the closet. Kaoru's smile widened even further somehow, and he nodded, before the two fell into their familiar routine of getting ready together.

* * *

Xavier glanced at his uncle before hesitantly answering the skype call. They were in a dimly lit room in Xavier's house set up with a large TV specifically for this purpose. He was sitting in one of the large, plush black chairs in the room with Jackal standing behind him as the call flickered before picking up the video on the other line. Soon an American man with a receding hairline and brown framed glasses appeared on the screen.

"Jackal! How are you?" The man greeted when his side of the call loaded the image of the pair on the other end.

"I'm good, Alan. And you?" Jackal replied back politely. His English wasn't as good as his French and he had a thick accent, but he could manage it a lot better than he could Japanese.

"I'm doing great! I'm excited to get this movie started." He exclaimed, finally acknowledging Xavier's presence and looking the teenager in the eyes. "Xavier, you know I'm a huge fan and I think your super talented and I would love to have you in this movie."

"Thank you so much." Xavier acknowledged, and he bowed his head slightly in thanks.

"Unfortunately, though, my people think your just a spoiled kid who constantly gets tangled with the press and they're worried you might not market well." Alan explained bluntly, holding up the front page of a gossip magazine with pictures of him and the silhouette of the 'mystery girl' stamped on the front. While Xavier didn't exactly regret the night or meeting Hikaru as much as he probably should, he knew the pictures were all over the media and damaging his public image.

"Oh, come on, Alan. You know those photos are manipulated. The tabloids will do anything to sell magazines." Jackal protested. Xavier tensed, wondering whether he had blown the movie deal.

"Trust me, Jackal, I understand." He sympathized, setting the magazine back down and out of the frame of the camera. "But the deal was no press at all until everything was approved and signed off on."

"Please, Sir." Xavier pleaded, straightening up and trying to seem confident. "That photo was obviously photoshopped." He lied and prayed that his voice wouldn't waver. "I have no idea who that girl is even supposed to be." There was a pause as Alan studied his face, probably trying to assess the truth behind Xavier's statement, and the blonde gulped in fear.

"Look, I like you kid, and I understand that these things happen." The movie producer explained. "I'll talk to my people about this and I'm sure we can brush it aside, but seriously one more press situation and I won't be able to save you anymore. Honestly, just don't leave the house for the next couple of weeks until I get everything finalized." He instructed.

"Of course." Xavier hastily agreed, nodding in acknowledgement.

"Filming starts as soon as you guys move out here at the end of the summer, so just don't do anything too scandalous until then." Alan warned, with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"For sure." Xavier replied. "Thank you so much."

"No problem, kid. And Jackal, I'll email you the updates." He said, and Jackal nodded in understanding. With one more nod at each of them, he ended the call and the screen went black, shrouding them in darkness.

"We're filming during the tour?" Xavier asked, referring to the American tour they were planning on doing at the end of the summer when they finally switched to an American record label, and twisted around in his seat to face his uncle. Jackal however, was fiddling on his phone and only half paying attention to his nephew.

"Yeah, don't worry. I'll work it into the tour schedule. You had a lot of off days anyway." He explained, not looking up from his phone. "And don't forget the original song you promised that news show tomorrow. Don't overthink it too much though, there's no way we're going to produce it into an actual song." He instructed before turning away and stalking out of the room.

Xavier groaned and sank further in his seat. Tours were already so exhausting, and now he would have to act in a movie at the same time. He wasn't sure he would be able to handle it. But Jackal had pulled a lot of strings to get him this opportunity, claiming it was his next big 'career move,' and now he had Alan and so many other people depending on him. He couldn't back out of it even if he wanted to at this point. With a sigh, he stood up and made his way to the main room where Jackal was pulling on his jacket and grabbing his car keys.

"I have business at the recording studio. I'll be back tonight and we'll talk about this some more." Jackal informed him and made his way to the hallway that lead to the garage door. "And please stay out of trouble." He pleaded before turning the corner.

Xavier groaned and walked into the kitchen, pulling out ingredients from the fridge to make a sandwich since he had skipped breakfast that morning. He knew he had some songs he could use for the news show, but they were either not good enough to debut yet or he was too fond of them to only use them once. That meant he would have to write a new song and he didn't have that much time. He had just finished assembling his sandwich when he heard rustling on the floor above him and then stomping before a girl with blonde hair in a messy bun and a Harley Quinn t-shirt appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

"Morning, sleeping beauty. You actually woke up before noon today." He greeted, sliding into one of the stools by the kitchen island with his lunch. "Rough night?"

"Kinda. Japanese people really know how to party." She chuckled, reminiscing back to the previous night. She made her way to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of orange juice.

"Monique, you have to be careful. If anyone finds out…" He trailed off, glancing at her from across the counter. He had known her his whole life, and he knew she was much more into the party scene than him and sometimes lost control. He had to drag her drunk ass home enough times back in France to know how wild she could get.

"Like your one to talk." She retorted, rolling her eyes at him. "I checked Twitter just now and saw you trending because of a scandal with some 'mystery girl'. I didn't know you were cheating on me?" She accused sarcastically, laughing at her own joke. "And with a _girl_ too? That's just a kicker." Xavier glared at her but ignored the comment, munching on his sandwich. "Was that the guy you hit with the door that Stella told me about?"

"Yeah, I feel so bad that he got roped into all this." Xavier sighed, taking another bite of his sandwich and replaying how angry the redhead had been.

"Was he cute though?" Monique asked, finishing her juice and running the cup under the sink.

"Mona!" Xavier exclaimed, blushing up to his ears.

"Oh my God, he totally was. Is he a fan? You can use that to your advantage…" She trailed off, glancing back at him with a smirk.

"I'm not going to do that. I'm not you." Xavier mumbled into his hand that he was using to try and hide his blush. "Speaking of which, how are you doing? Is the partying helping you to get over you-know-who?" He asked, careful to avoid using the triggering name. Her head shot up at the mention of her ex and reason for her little surprise visit from France and Xavier knew the answer was no. "You know you can stay for however long you need." Xavier reassured after seeing how distressed she still was.

"Thanks." She muttered, putting the cup in the dishwasher and pulling out her phone. "Are you doing anything today?"

"No, I'm on house arrest because of all of the bad press." He replied, finishing his sandwich. She noticed and took the plate also running it under water before joining it with the cup in the dishwasher. "Thanks. I have to write this song anyway. Do you think you could help? I'm really stuck on what to write."

"Oh, no can do." She answered, looking up at him with an apologetic look on her face. "I'm going shopping with Stella in a little bit." Xavier frowned at this, he had honestly been counting on her help with this since she was also a great songwriter. "Write about the 'mystery girl' you think is so cute." She suggested with a teasing wink before pulling away from the counter and making her way back to her room to get ready.

Xavier groaned, and looked around at the boring house before deciding to head out too. What Jackal didn't know, wouldn't hurt him. He grabbed some accessories to disguise himself with just in case and his guitar case with his writing notebook in it and headed to the front door.

"I'm going out!" He yelled at the ceiling. He heard a muffled response and decided the blonde girl had heard him before shrugging the strap to the guitar case over his shoulder and slipping out the door.

* * *

An Uber ride and short walk later, the twins entered through the tall iron gates of the park. An endless natural landscape stretched around them, framed by the Tokyo skyline in the distance in a captivating juxtaposition. A lake shimmered to their left under the summer sun as weeping willows brushed its surface and a small traditional Japanese castle could be seen looming in the distance. The place was swarming with people, locals and tourists alike, lounging, exercising, or just exploring the area. Kaoru instantly checked his phone where Yuukio had shared her location with him and led the way, Hikaru trailing behind him absorbing the breathtaking landscape.

They only walked a couple more minutes before spotting the young girl waving at them from under the shade of a cluster of cherry blossom trees that were now green for the summer season. She was still beautiful, pale in a cream-colored sundress with a floppy brown hat shading her from the sun. She jumped up, meeting them halfway, and hugging them each individually on arrival.

"Hikaru, how's your head doing?" She asked, looking between the two and they were both painfully reminded that she couldn't tell them apart.

"It's fine." Hikaru quickly reassured her to quell the uncomfortable situation. "It takes more than that to knock me out." He stated with a smug smile.

"Yeah he definitely has a thick skull." Kaoru teased, elbowing his twin in the side and earning a glare from Hikaru. "Thank you for taking care of him, though." Kaoru said, turning back to Yukio with sincerity in his eyes. "If you hadn't been there, I don't know what would've happened."

Yukio's eyes widened slightly as she glanced over at Hikaru, realizing that he hadn't told his brother the truth about that particular situation. Hikaru pleaded at her with his eyes to not say anything and the shift in her expression told him she understood.

"It's no problem! Anyone would've stepped in, it was just the decent thing to do." She told them with a reassuring smile. "Now come on, this park is one of the most beautiful places in Tokyo. I have to show you around." She announced, stepping in between the twins and interlocking arms with them before dragging them towards the path.

It really was gorgeous. She took them on a scenic tour first, along the lake and under the shade of the trees. They took lots of pictures and even stopped to feed some of the ducks when an old man offered them some bread. Hikaru doubled over laughing when a large white goose began to chase Kaoru around for the bread and Kaoru screamed before throwing the entire piece on the ground. Next, they made their way to the castle and took a selfie in front of it for Instagram before going inside. They had to squeeze past some tourists to make their way to the upper floors, but the view it offered of the park and the city beyond was breathtaking. They took more pictures before climbing back down and walked around aimlessly before deciding the heat was too much and taking shelter under one of the many trees dotting the grounds.

Yukio sat with her ankles crossed between them while Kaoru laid on his side facing her and Hikaru leaned back on his elbows to her right, watching the people walking by. They talked about their mother's business and upcoming projects, Yukio's career, Ouran Academy, and they even told her about the host club. Hikaru noticed the fondness between her and his brother, the lingering stares, small touches, and the way they were practically leaning into each other. He felt angry bile rise in his throat as he realized what was blooming, and tore his gaze away in disgust. He couldn't believe his brother was doing this to him, ignoring him like this, and the painful sting of being left behind ached in the back of his mind.

Kaoru had just finished telling her a story about one of the pranks they had pulled on Tamaki, completely oblivious to his fuming twin, when their laughter died down and a silence fell across the group. Hikaru continued observing his surroundings, enchanted by the park despite his irritation, while Kaoru pulled out his phone and Yukio also looked around. He noticed a small outdoor art sale across the lawn and wondered if it could be his escape from this situation, not because he actually cared about commoner's artwork but because he was tired of being a third wheel to his own twin. After a couple minutes of this, Yukio piped up and broke the silence.

"Oh, look! A popsicle stand!" She exclaimed, pointing excitedly to a small white cart with a blue umbrella in the opposite direction from the market. "Let's go buy some! I'm dying in this heat." Kaoru nodded excitedly, quick to agree with her, and the group stood up. Hikaru however stared at the art sale longingly and came to a decision.

"You guys go ahead. I think I'm going to check out that market over there." Hikaru told them, trying to keep his tone as casual as possible, and nodding towards the row of booths across from them. Kaoru glanced at him, taken by surprise at his usually dependent twin wanting to split from him, but hastily nodded.

"Alright, but keep your phone on you." Kaoru agreed, the pair already peeling away from him.

"Thanks, _mom."_ Hikaru jabbed sarcastically before turning away from them and making his way over to the row of stands. He could feel the pins of jealousy prickling in his chest, but he did his best to suppress the sensation. His incident with Haruhi in Karuizawa was reminder enough of how much he could fuck up if he didn't reign in his emotions. Plus, he knew him and Kaoru were trying to reach out more to other people and stop being so dependent on each other, but it still hurt to be left behind.

He pushed his thoughts out of mind as he approached the first little booth and the woman behind it smiled at him. He glanced around and noticed it was mostly covered in girly things like small purses, jewelry, and hair accessories. He was about to move on when a small golden hair pin caught his eye and he stopped. It was lined with tiny jewels that sparkled in the sunlight, but what captured his attention was a small, white bunny decorating one end. It's wide brown eyes reminded him of a certain girl he had left behind in Ouran and a pang shot through his stomach. He had been hoping that this trip to Tokyo would help keep his mind off of Haruhi, but small things like this kept reminding him of the oblivious girl.

He kept staring at it, trying to decide whether to buy it or not. It was only 800 yen, and she might smile when he gives it to her, but he'll have to stare at it all summer and be reminded of her every time he notices it. While he was rolling these thoughts around in his mind, someone else walked up next to him and he stepped to the side to make room, realizing he was hogging the table from other visitors. Suddenly, a familiar French accent froze him to the spot.

"So, you come here often?" It asked smugly, and Hikaru spun around to see familiar blue eyes staring back at him over a pair of sunglasses and white medical mask, shaded by a matching black baseball cap. Hikaru managed to suppress his shock long enough to reply.

"What are you following me now?" He snapped, coming to a decision about the hairpiece and pulling his wallet out.

"Correction: I live here so you followed me." Xavier sassed back, a dumb grin on his face as he pulled down the medical mask under his chin.

"Whatever." Hikaru grumbled, wanting to complete his purchase as quickly as possible and get away from the other man. He was already irritated with his brother ditching him and he didn't want to deal with this idiot souring his mood even more. He pulled out the appropriate sum of money, and gestured toward the hairpin before shoving the bills in the woman's face.

"Yuukio told me you had an identical twin brother so I was worried it was him for a second." Xavier explained as the woman wrapped up the hairpin, and Hikaru inwardly groaned wondering what else the girl had decided to share. "But when I noticed you glaring at a fucking hairpin with a cute bunny on it, I knew it had to be you." Xavier said with a chuckle. Hikaru froze at how close the other man had toed to such a sensitive topic, but pushed that mental breakdown away for a different day as the woman handed him the wrapped-up item.

"I was deep in thought." Hikaru explained matter-of-factly as he shoved the pin in his pocket and drifted off to the next booth. He smugly noticed Xavier following his movements and trailing behind him as he walked, but didn't let it show on his face. "What are you doing here anyway? Shouldn't you be in hiding or something?"

Xavier snorted at the claim before responding. "This place is usually busy enough that I don't get noticed." Xavier told him and Hikaru found he was having a hard time focusing on the Tokyo souvenirs on display at the next table. Instead, he glanced at the man next to him wearing a very conspicuously stylish black tracksuit with English letters on the chest in the summer heat.

"My seventeen-year-old brother single handedly predicted you would be here." Hikaru stated, scoffing at the man's naivety.

"So, you were following me?" Xavier teased but Hikaru only glared in reply. "I usually come here when I'm having a writing block. It helps me think and get ideas." He explained, picking up a scale model of Tokyo Tower and spinning it in his fingers before setting it back down.

"Are you writing something right now?" Hikaru wondered out loud, giving up on the souvenirs and wandering to the next table. This one had accessories such as small purses, wallets, and clutches made entirely from colorful wrappers from the trash. Hikaru's inner fashionista gagged in response to the revolting items.

"Yeah, I promised this big talk show that I would write a new song to debut on their show tomorrow." He explained, sounding a little annoyed about it, before an idea came to his mind and his expression shifted. "Here, I'll show you." He said with a cheeky grin before walking in the other direction. The redhead looked up at his retreating form and sighed, not wanting to follow him but knowing that for some reason he was going to anyway.

Xavier led them to a shady spot on a hill a couple of yards from the first booth they were at where a guitar case and small black notebook sat waiting for them. The blonde sat down next to the case and picked up the notebook, patting at the grass on his other side for Hikaru to join him. The twin complied and got comfortable lounging on the grass while Xavier flipped to a page in the notebook before passing it to him. Hikaru scanned the scratchy handwriting, skipping over the crossed-out parts and notes in the margins, before quickly reaching the end.

"This is about a girl?" Hikaru asked when he noticed the feminine pronouns, once again questioning Xavier's sexuality. If the singer was offended though, he didn't show it.

"Yeah, it's not that hard." He told him, taking the notebook back and staring at the page critically himself. "You just change the 'he's to 'she's and make a comment about long hair or something and its solid." He explained but Hikaru noticed the waver in his voice.

"That's so dumb. Why are you hiding it?" Hikaru asked, annoyed by the whole concept, and saw the way the question clouded the expression on the singer's face.

"Japan is still really taboo about gay stuff unless it's like fetishized and exploited." Xavier explained, his voice a little strained and his eyes glued to the page. "It's not that I mind people knowing, I just don't want to cause a scandal and ruin my career." Hikaru nodded, mentally recalling other celebrities he had heard about experiencing similar situations that were now only known as a passing joke.

"But what about your girlfriend?" Hikaru inquired hesitantly, knowing he was tip-toeing on thin ice and wondering how far he could push without cracking it.

"Who, Monique? Yeah, she knows." He responded, turning to a blank page and tapping his pen against it. Hikaru cocked an eyebrow, clearly confused, and was about to ask more when Xavier cut him off. "She's gay too." He added, chuckling as Hikaru's eyes widened. "We're each other's beards." Hikaru felt his jaw drop, earning an outright laugh from the other man.

"Oh my God. Wait! Why are you telling me this?" Hikaru flustered, his mind trying to process the information. "What if I tell someone? Isn't that like a really big secret-"

"Even if you did," Xavier began, cutting him off. "No one would believe you. Everyone who I care about already knows, anyway. Plus, Yuukio vouched for you." Hikaru blushed, not sure if it was because he suddenly felt guilty for his previously adverse feelings towards the model or the fact that Xavier was basically implying that he told him the truth because he cared about him. But, like most of his emotions, he ignored it.

"What about that 'mystery girl'?" Hikaru teased, trying to lighten the mood, and playfully elbowed the other man. "Aren't you scared she's going to find out?" He laughed.

"Ah, you saw that?" Xavier wondered sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm sorry. That was a really close call."

"Yeah, it's fine." Hikaru reassured, jokingly patting the other man on the back. "Just don't let it happen again."

"Again?" He asked, and Hikaru froze at what he was implying. He opened his mouth to respond, then closed it, not knowing what to say, and repeated this enough times to resemble a fish out of water.

"What about you?" Xavier said, saving Hikaru from his own stupidity, and nodded towards the pin in his pocket. "Do you have a girl?"

"Who, Haruhi?" Hikaru questioned, noticing what he was gesturing to. "Uh no, not really. I think she only sees me as a friend." He explained, subconsciously fidgeting with the pin in his pocket as he thought of her and he couldn't help but smile a little. "Plus, I think she's in love with Tamaki, this other friend of ours." And he kept smiling to try to hide the hitch in his voice. "They're both too stupid and oblivious to notice it though." He snorted, remembering the two idiots yelling at each other. When he glanced back at the other man, he found Xavier studying his face carefully, and he suddenly felt very vulnerable.

A soft buzzing interrupted the moment, and he pulled out his phone from his pocket. Kaoru's name was listed at the top of the screen and he unlocked the device to view the message.

' _Yuukio got a call from work and had to leave. Do you want to get dinner and then head home?'_ The message read.

"Is that your brother?" Xavier asked from over his shoulder, and Hikaru jumped a little at the proximity.

"Uh, yeah." He responded absentmindedly while he quickly typed out a reply. "I should go." He said sitting up.

"Wait, Hikaru." Xavier stopped him, reaching across him and grabbing the small device from his hand before he could pocket it. Hikaru knew he should be protesting, but instead he found himself complying without even realizing it. When the blonde handed back the phone, it had Xavier's name listed in his contacts followed by a guitar emoji and ten digits. Hikaru gave him a confused look, wondering why a famous rockstar was giving him his personal phone number, and said rockstar noticed.

"Your crush." He explained. "Tell me how it goes. I might be able to write a song about it." Hikaru inwardly scoffed a little at the response, doubtful towards why the other man would care, but didn't mention it.

"Well I'm off then." Hikaru announced, picking himself up and once more found himself choosing his words to avoid a goodbye. And then he ran off before the other man could reply.

* * *

It was the next day, and Hikaru tried not to seem too excited as he lounged on the couch and waited for the talk show Xavier had mentioned to come on. Of course, being discreet, he had the old box TV tuned onto a random game show and was pretending to be disinterested in anything by playing on his phone. His brother walked in, as if on cue, right before the program started with a bowl of popcorn and snatched the remote from him.

"Hey, I was watching that." Hikaru fake-protested like he was expected to as his brother changed the channel to the talk show. His stomach unexpectedly flipped as he saw Xavier's now too-familiar face appear on the screen.

"Whatever, you were on your phone." Kaoru argued, picking up his brother's feet to sit down before placing them in his lap and holding the bowl on top of them. "Now shush, it's starting."

Hikaru did shut up, but not because his brother told him, and focused on the screen. All four members of the band were squeezed onto a couch, Xavier sitting on the end closest to the camera, and a pretty Japanese woman sat across from them and introduced them to the viewers. Hikaru drowned out most of her voice, and focused on Xavier's face. The old TV pixelated his appearance, washing out most of the detail, but Hikaru knew enough to piece back the intensity of his blue eyes and strong bone structure that was probably standing out against his pale skin.

He only refocused on the program when he noticed the woman asking Xavier about the song he promised them. It was at that moment that Hikaru realized how tired he looked, well more than usual anyway, and he wondered if he had stayed up late last night finishing it. Still, his mind hummed in anticipation as Xavier got up from the couch and made his way over to a side stage where a stool and an acoustic guitar were waiting for him. Hikaru was excited to hear how the song he had read on paper would sound in real life as Xavier began strumming a simple guitar melody, but when he started singing Hikaru realized that the lyrics were different. He had changed it completely.

" _You got so goddamn drunk you couldn't stand so I had to drive you home. You passed out by the first red light so I didn't know where to go. So I drove down every back road waiting for the sunlight to shine on your face."_

Hikaru's breathing hitched as the lyrics registered and he felt his face heat up. They were about the night they had met when Hikaru fell asleep in his car, he realized. Xavier was singing about _him._

" _You're so fucked up and I love it."_ Xavier belted out as the song picked up and he reached the chorus. " _You're so obtuse but I love you anyway, ay, ay, ay, ay-yeah, ay-yeah. You're so fucked up but I love it. Dazed and confused but I love you anyway, ay, ay, ay, ay-yeah, ay-yeah."_

Xavier smiled into the camera as he transitioned to the next verse, and Hikaru felt like the man was staring straight at him; smiling just for him. A squeal from next to him let him know his twin was also feeling the same way, crushing whatever moment Hikaru had convinced himself he was having with the TV screen.

" _I got so goddamn drunk cause I couldn't stand the way you talked to me. I said 'oh I apologize, I ain't what you want me to be.' So I told you, you were crazy and you sat right up and said 'I don't agree.' That's fine with me."_ Xavier sang before repeating the chorus again.

" _Ripped dress, cigarettes, late on rent, styled mess, stress test, but goddamn, I love you anyway. I love you anyway. Bad news, loose screws, like a noose, high on fumes, talkin' blues, but goddamn, I love you anyway. I love you anyway."_ Xavier sang before repeating the chorus once more and the song finally ended.

The studio audience clapped for him, and he bowed respectively a couple times, before setting the guitar down and making his way back to his bandmates on the couch. His brother's incoherent screaming broke him out of his shocked daze, and Hikaru began to scramble for his phone. Without even registering what he was doing, he unlocked the small device, scrolled through his contacts, and hastily typed out a message.

' _Wow I can't believe_ The _Xavier Labelle wrote a song inspired by little old me. I'm swooning.'_ He wrote, pressing send before he could register what he was doing, and looked back up to the TV, not really sure what to expect. A couple seconds passed before the blonde on the screen jolted a little and reached for his pocket. Hikaru's heart was pounding in his chest as he watched Xavier, on live television, read the message and _smile._

"What's that, a text?" He heard the woman interviewing them ask and Xavier's head jerked up. "Could it be from the mystery girl?" She asked deviously, and the audience made a cohesive "ooing" sound in response.

"N-no, it's just a friend." Xavier flustered in response, and Vinny glanced at the phone over his band mate's shoulder and snorted at the message. "They're just watching the show right now and were telling me they liked the song."

"Well, you should text back your 'friend' and tell her that we'd love to have her on the show sometime." The woman continued, completely ignoring Xavier's response. "Wouldn't you guys like to meet her?" She asked the audience, earning screams of approval from them. Xavier obediently ducked his head with a raging blush and typed a response, looking up when he was done, and instantly Hikaru's phone pinged.

Kaoru's head whipped around at the noise, glancing between the TV and the device still clutched in Hikaru's hand.

"Woah, that was weird." Hikaru lied, his voice wavering a little.

"Oh my God, yeah, it was." Kaoru agreed, turning back towards the TV and waiting, along with thousands of other viewers, for Hikaru to reply back. He gulped before unlocking the small device.

' _I'm really sorry about this. You don't have to answer.'_ The message read.

Hikaru took a second to think of a response before he started typing.

' _Nah it's fine lmao. I'm second guessing letting you hit me with that fucking door tho.'_ He wrote out and quickly pressed send.

Moments later, Xavier received the message and _laughed_ , unknowingly releasing a cage of fluttering butterflies into the redhead's stomach.

"Yeah, I don't think so." Xavier said, looking back up at the woman and still smiling. "Not everyone wants to live in the limelight, I guess."

The woman frowned at the response, but accepted it, and continued on with her interview. Xavier glanced once more at the phone, before finally pocketing it, and Hikaru let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. The rest of the interview went on, but Hikaru drowned it out as he tried to quiet his pounding heart. When the commercial finally came, and Hikaru thought he had mostly calmed himself down, his brother pounced on him.

"Do you know what this means?!" He yelled from on top of him. Hikaru stared at him frozen, worried his secret had been discovered and not daring to answer. "This means she's real!" Kaoru exclaimed, obviously not needing a response to continue. "The mystery girl is real! Did you see the way he smiled? And that song was obviously about her!" Kaoru continued to scream into his brother's terrified face. "She's real and he _cares_ about her!" Finally, his twin jumped off him, making incoherent screaming sounds and scrambling with his phone. "I have to call Tamaki about this, your useless." He declared before leaving the room.

Hikaru slouched back into the couch as he processed what had just happened, clutching his pounding heart. He had just confirmed his existence on live national television for all of Xavier's rabid fans and crazy paparazzi. Half of Japan would be on the hunt for him, including his own brother, and if they found him, his life would be over. He would be a joke; a punchline of the next celebrity scandal, and he could kiss any sense of privacy he ever had behind. Worst of all though, he can't even begin to imagine how angry his brother would be with him for keeping this a secret from him for so long. He groaned in frustration.

What did he just do?

* * *

The rest of the week rolled along in a distant haze, Hikaru's mind the equivalent to that of a rotting zombie's. Every morning he would wake up and remember what happened and feel bile in the back of his throat. He could tell Kaoru noticed the shift in his behavior, but didn't say anything, and for once Hikaru was glad at the distance accord they had struck.

It was a couple days after the incident on TV and Hikaru was lying awake in his bed. It probably was closer to two in the morning at this moment, sleeping was something he was having a harder time with these days, when his phone pinged from his bedside table. He glanced at his twin across the room who was still snoring peacefully with the bedsheets half on the floor, before he tugged the device from it's charger and unlocked the screen.

He couldn't help the smile that crossed his face when he read the message.

' _What kind of features do you like in a girl? Would it be weird to talk about hands?'_

It was from Xavier. He snorted at the question, wondering why he suddenly considered Hikaru the hetero expert, but he didn't question it.

' _Are you working on another song?'_ He typed back. He only had to wait a minute or so before he got a reply back.

' _Oh, I didn't think you'd be up._

 _Yeah, I've been working on it for a couple weeks now but I decided to change the lyrics a little.'_

Wow, this man did not stop working Hikaru realized. He was constantly performing or appearing on TV, but even in his free time and at two in the morning he was still working on his music.

' _I think it doesn't really matter.'_ He typed out after rolling the initial question around in his mind. He paused, and tried to pinpoint what it was he liked so much about Haruhi, but he couldn't seem to place it on anything physical. ' _As long as it's sincere, I don't think anyone will question it.'_ He added to the end before hitting send. The reply seemed to take longer, but Hikaru wasn't sure if it was because he was waiting for it this time or if it actually took more time, when his phone finally pinged again.

' _Yeah, you're right. Thanks man.'_ Was all the message read. He stared at the glowing screen for a couple more seconds, trying to decide if the conversation was over or if he should reply again. He finally decided to type another message out before sending it and placing his phone back on the nightstand.

' _And stop acting like I'm the expert on girls! I'm probably just as clueless as you are.'_

Hikaru glanced at the full moon outside his window and swore it was staring back at him. Observing it as intensely as he was, he realized it radiated like the sun; its beams sending broken shadows across the small room in long stripes. Hikaru closed his eyes, finally relaxed enough to slip away.

* * *

The next week passed in a similar manner. As soon as Hikaru found himself getting nervous again, he would get a text from Xavier asking him a random question or making some dumb comment about the paparazzi and how hard being famous and successful was. Hikaru always retorted with his own sarcastic remark, and they created a rhythm of easy banter in most of their conversations. Sometimes they would be short and quick, Xavier usually getting busy with something and forgetting to reply, but other times they would drag deep into the night and Hikaru would have to fight his eyelids just to read the messages.

One day though, his phone rang.

It was late into the evening, but not past midnight, and Kaoru and Hikaru were lounging on the beds in their room. Kaoru was laying on his stomach, his feet swinging in the air behind him, as he scrolled through a webpage on his laptop. Hikaru had been aimlessly staring at the small TV, his thoughts elsewhere, when he saw the name light up on his phone.

He stared at it for a little too long, his finger hovering over the reject button in a wave of nervousness that he couldn't explain. His brother glanced over at him, noticing the buzzing, and cocked an eyebrow.

"Are you going to answer it?" Kaoru asked, and Hikaru could hear the curiosity in his brother's voice.

"Uh… yeah." He decided, jumping up and strolling out of the bedroom before his twin could pester him with any more questions. He waited until he had made his way past the living room and stepped into the small backyard, the door closed firmly behind him, before he pressed the answer button.

"…Hello?" He said into the small device, his tone making it sound more like a question than a greeting.

"Ok, so hear me out." A French accent immediately began on the other end, and Hikaru felt his stomach somersault at the intimacy of the phone call compared to their usual texting. "I have this one line that I'm stuck on, and 'breasts' just rhymes perfectly, but I don't want to be offensive or anything. Like, is that even something straight guys actually care about in a chick or is it going to be really obvious that I'm trying to compensate for something?"

Hikaru couldn't help the laugh that escaped him at that moment, the hilariousness of the entire statement tickling him unexpectedly, and all his previous tension slipped away.

"Yeah, I don't think girls would be really into that." He finally answered after his laughter had died down. "I mean, I'm sure a lot guys care about that kind of stuff, but personally it doesn't really matter to me. Haruhi's, like as flat as a board." He explained, and then without realizing it, jumped into a story about having to dress Haruhi for the beach and trying to hide that particular shortcoming, but his fashionista skills saving the day in the end.

"Yeah, you're right, you're right." Xavier submitted, still chuckling from Hikaru's ridiculous story that he was sure was probably exaggerated a little. "I'll change that."

"Better safe than sorry," Hikaru agreed, a smile stretching across his face that he just couldn't suppress for some reason. He sat on the edge of the little porch, the moon illuminating his surroundings clearly, and started absentmindedly playing with a stick lying next to him.

"Your friends sound wild." Xavier commented, and Hikaru could hear the smile in his voice as well.

"Wild is an understatement." He said, his mind wandering back to the fun but crazy times they had had the previous year. "Either way though, I still can't help but miss those idiots."

"Yeah, that's hard. You're staying for the whole summer, right?" Xavier asked, recalling one of their especially longer texting conversations. "Why don't you invite them to come visit?" He suggested.

"Hmm, maybe." Hikaru perked up, rolling the idea around in his mind. "They could all stay at a hotel nearby and we could do touristy things since Tamaki loves that kind of stuff. But, I wouldn't want Haruhi stuck in a hotel room with those idiots, especially not Tamaki, and she wouldn't be able to afford it anyway." He explained, thinking out loud, when an idea suddenly popped into his head. "Wait, Haruhi could stay in the guest room here, with me! Xavier you're a genius!" Hikaru exclaimed, standing up in his excitement, the stick he had been playing with forgotten on the ground.

"I didn't mean-" Xavier began, but Hikaru didn't even hear him.

"I have to go tell Kaoru." He declared, interrupting the other man. "I'll talk to you later." And then he hung up and sped-walked back to the bedroom. Kaoru looked up when he walked in and noticed his excitement.

"Who was it?" He asked, sitting up in his bed, his interest now peaked.

"It doesn't matter." He explained, making his way to his own bed but never dropping eye contact with his brother. "I had the best idea!"

* * *

"Another late-night phone call to your boyfriend?" Vinny teased when Xavier walked back into the recording booth. His best friend was sitting on one of the stools, strumming a new melody on his guitar as he worked out all of its bumps and quirks.

"Haha, very funny." Xavier replied sarcastically, grabbing a water bottle and situating himself back on the stool behind the keyboard. He tried not to let the phone call turn his mood sour, and he definitely tried not to let it seep into his voice. He wasn't jealous of the fact that Hikaru was going to be basically living with his crush for who knows how long and he wasn't angry at himself for indirectly causing it. Yeah, he was definitely fine with the entire situation. Everything was fine. "And that was the first phone call." He added, despite himself.

"Oooh, that's a big step in a relationship." Vinny kept joking, ignoring his friend's protests.

"Can you shut up. It's not like that." He retorted, turning his attention back to the sheet music they were writing. Vinny definitely wasn't doing anything to help his mood.

"Oh really, so you just happened to drop like five love songs on us since you first met him for no reason at all?" Vinny wondered sarcastically, his attention shifting to teasing his best friend rather than playing on the guitar situated in his lap. "I need to know the real reason why you keep making us stay at the studio so late." He said, gesturing to the empty recording studio and the fact that it was creeping towards midnight and past the time normal people were supposed to be working.

"He might have inspired some of the lyrics, but they're not love songs." Xavier argued, now only pretending to be working on the music since he couldn't manage to focus on anything for some reason whenever Hikaru was brought up.

"Yeah, as I recall the exact words you used were 'you're so fucked up but I love it, dazed and confused but I love you anyway'" Vinny quoted the song Xavier had sang on the talk show they had been on the previous week. "Why would I ever assume that that would be a love song?" He questioned sarcastically.

"I just added that in. That wasn't about him." Xavier explained, running a hand through his hair in frustration at his bandmates pestering. "Can we please get back to finishing up this song? I want to go home and sleep." He pleaded.

"Look, it's fine if you don't like him romantically or whatever." Vinny continued, completely ignoring his friend's request. "But I want to know what he means to you because it's obviously something." His voice was gentle as he was trying to reason with him. "I'm your best friend, I deserve that at least."

Xavier sighed, knowing he was right, but he wasn't completely sure how to answer. He had spent the past couple of weeks analyzing his emotions and pouring them into his lyrics to help sort through them the best way he knew how, but he still didn't know if it was romantic or not. And, if it was, he wasn't sure if that was good since he would be leaving Japan at the end of the summer and would be too busy with the tour and movie to do long distance. Half of him knew it would be better to cut it off now before it became anything real, but the other half knew he couldn't end things with the twin now that he had gotten to know him better. He just couldn't help himself when it came to that idiot. He thought of Hikaru all the time, and he knew he wouldn't be able to avoid him for long even if he wanted to.

"It's not love… it's more like relief? Like a breath of fresh air?" Xavier tried to explain, but it came out more as a question than an answer. "Other than you guys, he's the only person who's really honest with me and critical. I feel like I have to impress him all the time and I haven't been so motivated like this since back when we were first trying to sign with a label. It's like things aren't so confusing anymore." He continued, and he knew he was rambling, but now that he had started he found it hard to stop. "And he doesn't care about my success or stardom or anything trivial like that. He talks to me like I'm a normal person. And I know that if he does likes me, it'll be because of who I am as a person, you know?"

There was a silence as Xavier ran out of words and he looked to his best friend for a response. A sly smile creeped onto Vinny's face as he processed what he had just said, and Xavier felt a blush sneaking onto his face at the knowing look. He realized the hole he had dug himself into only after it was too late.

"Right, not romantic. Got it." Vinny agreed sarcastically with that shit eating grin still coloring his face. Xavier could only glare at his friend, not wanting to admit to it, but knowing he was right. He stubbornly turned back to the keyboard, preferring to pretend the conversation hadn't happened, and tapped out the new melody once more.

"Did you figure out the guitar part?" He asked, not able to make eye contact yet. Vinny scoffed at his immaturity, but responded obediently.

"Yeah, do you want to hear it?" He asked, and waited for Xavier to nod before strumming the first chords of the new song.


	3. Cigarette Daydreams

AN: I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has read this far. I know this story has a ton of OCs and barely any references to the anime and is basically just a super niche fandom, but it's really precious to me. I hope my love for this story is conveyed in my writing, and I hope at least one person out there is enjoying it. Thank you 333

* * *

Chapter 3: Cigarette Daydream

It was a Friday afternoon, officially three weeks since Hikaru had met Xavier for the first time, and he was sitting in the kitchen eating some leftovers he had found in the fridge. His friends would be arriving in two days, and he was giddy with excitement. He mentally noted that he would have to clean out the guest room and started scrolling through a travel sight on his phone, wondering what places they should visit. At some point in his research, Kaoru walked in with bags of groceries in his hands and his grandma at his heels with her own two bags. He got up and helped her put away the food, and she thanked him before shuffling to the adjoining living room.

Kaoru grabbed a fork and joined his brother at the table, picking at his food. Hikaru paid no mind to it, turning back to his phone and clicking on another link. Kaoru stabbed a piece of pork and placed it between his teeth when his phone pinged. He took the small device and read the message on the screen and the pork slipped from his mouth and hit the table as his jaw fell open.

"Dude!" His brother exclaimed, angrier at the fact that he had wasted a piece of pork than the mess it had made, when he noticed his twin's expression. Kaoru's jaw was slack and his wide eyes stared at the screen before glancing up at his brother across from him. "What…?"

"Yuukio just offered us sold out tickets. To see Lost in Translation. _Tonight_." Kaoru exclaimed, the disbelief apparent in his shock. Hikaru's eyes widened at the mention of Xavier's band and his mind started spinning as he realized the implications of this situation.

"W-what?" He stuttered, his worry leaking into his voice. Luckily, Kaoru seemed too excited to notice. "I thought you said you weren't going to ask her to meet them."

"Yeah, but I've been texting her a little since that day in the park." Kaoru blushed, and through his panic Hikaru wondered how much their relationship had developed without him knowing. He pushed that thought aside however, when he realized he was doing the exact same thing as his brother but only a million times worse. "And she asked why I was at that club the night we ran into her, so I told her I was a really big fan of Lost in Translation. After that she kept insisting she was going to do something about it, but she's always so busy I didn't actually expect…" He trailed off, a huge smile spreading on his face.

It was at that moment that Hikaru realized that, even though he was terrified of seeing Xavier in person again, he would have to go for his brother's sake. He hadn't seen Kaoru this excited in a while, and the happiness radiating from his smile rubbed off a little on his twin.

"Alright." He gave in, trying to suppress his groan. "When do we leave?"

* * *

' _I'm going to your show tonight.'_ Hikaru typed out on his phone. He stared at the blinking cursor at the end of the message and second guessed whether or not he should inform the singer about this. He was about to delete the whole message, when he realized it would be worse if he didn't tell him and Xavier spotted him somehow at the show. He pressed send before throwing his phone down to take a shower, pretending like it hadn't happened. They would be leaving in a couple hours and he wanted his hair to have enough time to dry so he could style it.

When he came back, a towel wrapped around his waist and his skin still damp, he saw the light blinking on his phone. He pretended not to be excited with anticipation as he unlocked it and read the reply.

' _Oh really? How'd you get tickets? I thought it was completely sold out'_ The message read.

' _Yeah, it was but Yuukio found out Kaoru is your #1 fan and got us tickets through the black market .'_ He typed out before hitting send. He put the phone back down to slip on some underwear and his favorite ripped jeans and when he came back another reply was waiting for him.

' _That's good. I have a surprise for you ;)'_ Blinked back at him and Hikaru's stomach dropped. He felt excitement along with terror rush through him and it sent his heart racing. Kaoru walked in at that moment and Hikaru pocketed the device, pushing those feelings away as best as he could in order to calm himself down.

It wasn't that much longer before he was dressed and groomed and the twins were sitting in an Uber on their way to the way to the venue. His heart was in his stomach and his mind forgotten in a gutter somewhere as he wondered what Xavier had waiting up his sleeve.

* * *

They met Yuukio in front of the venue an hour before doors opened. She greeted them, giving them each a hug like she had before, but Hikaru couldn't help but notice how she lingered in her embrace with Kaoru. He fought the bitter feeling in the pit of his stomach, and instead tried and failed to be happy for his brother.

She handed them their tickets along with badges on a lanyard that read 'Backstage Access" and Hikaru watched his brother short-circuit as he noticed the print. He tried not to linger on the implications of the badge, reminding himself that tonight was for Kaoru and he wouldn't spend it worrying about a certain obnoxious singer.

Yuukio explained that she had gotten them early access as well so they had to go in right now. Hikaru didn't really understand the need for it until they passed the huge line of devoted fans that wrapped around the block and he knew they must have been waiting there all day. He tried his best to ignore their glares as they slipped inside the venue and made their way through a series of hallways before walking into the large room where the concert would be taking place. They were on ground level with the stage, and even in the dim lighting Hikaru could see people filing into the seated areas around the perimeter of the venue.

"Come on!" Yuukio called, grabbing Kaoru's arm and pulling him towards the stage.

"What?" Hikaru wondered, confused on why she was heading towards the stage. He honestly wanted to be as far away from the platform he knew Xavier would be on as he could. "Shouldn't we head to our seats?"

"The seats were sold out." She explained, and Hikaru hesitantly followed her as she continued to pull his brother in the other direction. "All I could manage was general admission, but it's better this way anyway."

"General admission?" Kaoru asked, also not familiar with the term.

"Yeah, as in standing room." She explained, smiling at him. "As in, as close to the band as you can possibly get." Hikaru's stomach dropped and he bet that him and his twin were wearing similar expressions of shock at that moment but for very different reasons.

They followed her to the stage anyway, and were soon standing side by side centered with the middle of it, clutching the metal barricade that separated the audience from the platform. Hikaru was glad that there was at least about a four-foot gap between the fence and the stage, but he still wondered if Xavier would be able to see him and silently prayed that it would be very dark.

It was a little bit awkward at first, seeing as they were the only ones standing on the floor, and the crew members doing last minute set up kept glancing at them, but within the next fifteen minutes the first fan appeared around the corner. It was a small blonde girl, looking innocent enough, except she was sprinting. Hikaru was confused for a second at why she was in such a hurry, when suddenly a wave of girls appeared behind her, also at top speed.

"Brace yourself boys." Yuukio announced from her spot on the other side of Kaoru. "These fans are known for being aggressive."

Hikaru assumed she was joking, not really understanding what she meant, but then the fans started to settle around them and the pushing and shoving began. As more people filed in, the pressure of the crowd rose behind him, and by the time the concert was about to start, he could feel the girl behind him pressed up completely onto him and not by choice. A couple people tried to squeeze between the group to also get a spot at the front, and Hikaru noticed Yuukio physically elbowing them away. He stared in shock, wondering what he had just gotten himself into, and decided to link arms with his brother instead and effectively quelling anyone from getting between them.

Finally, the lights dimmed completely and the audience screamed and Hikaru felt his chest clench in anticipation. The concert was starting, and he would be face to face with the man who had been dominating his thoughts for the past three weeks. When the band walked out however, he realized that he didn't recognize any of the members. Confused, he shot his brother a questioning look.

"That's the opener!" His brother explained, having to shout into his ear to be heard over the screaming audience. Hikaru nodded, turning his attention back to the stage, and letting his nervousness subside as he realized he had more time.

"Hello, Tokyo!" The singer yelled in broken Japanese and Hikaru noticed that the band was American, but the audience screamed in response. He then switched to English, and Hikaru had no idea what he was saying, only noticing when he mentioned 'Lost in Translation' and the venue roared at the mention of the band they were all here to see. With that, they began the performance. Hikaru had no idea what the lyrics were, but they sounded like an indie rock band with lots of acoustic instrumentation, raw vocals, and awkward transitions that somehow worked all together. Hikaru liked the overall sound, but he found he couldn't focus, his eyes kept drifting to the movement on the sides of the stage and wondering if Xavier was there.

When they finally played their last chord, they spoke some more English nonsense before waving and running offstage. Before Hikaru could wonder what would happen next, the lights turned on again and the crew appeared to re-setup the stage. Hikaru was annoyed at the time lag between the acts, but found those thoughts scurrying away as the lights dimmed and his heart sped up again. The opener was out of the way, and now it was time to face Xavier. He clutched the barricade, a nervous sweat dampening his forehead.

That's when another band he didn't recognize ran out on the stage. He groaned in annoyance, his emotions being pulled back and forth and the exertion of standing for so long while wrestling the rabid fans behind him exhausting him both physically and mentally. He leaned against the barricade in frustration as the band went through the same routine. They were actually Japanese, so he understood what they were saying, but he honestly couldn't bring himself to pay attention. Their music was alternative in a different way, with lots of synthesizers and sounds he couldn't recognize, and the lyrics played a laid-back roll, blending into the music. It was a sound he would normally be interested in, but his mind was too preoccupied for him to focus on it.

When they finally finished their set, and yelled out some more words to hype up the audience, Hikaru found himself losing interest. He wondered how many more openers there would be before Xavier would come out. He watched bored as they left the stage and the lights came back on and the crew went through their same routine of resetting the stage. Hikaru glanced as his brother, and saw him chatting excitedly with Yuukio, and decided not to interrupt the two. At least Kaoru was having a good time, he thought in irritation.

The lights went off once again and the audience screamed behind him. Suddenly, he felt a huge pressure on his back that pressed him against the barricade, squeezing the air out of his lungs, as everyone behind him pushed to get as close to the stage as they could. A million emotions ran through his mind as he realized that there was only one thing that could cause such a reaction and his heart leaped in his chest. Before he could even process those feelings though, a single spotlight fell on the pitch-black stage revealing a lone person standing at its center.

Xavier.

The crowd roared behind him but he found it sounded muffled from the blood rushing in his ears. Hikaru felt his stomach flip when he smiled. Xavier made his way to the mic stand at the front of the stage, mere feet from where Hikaru stood, and the twin craned his neck to look up at him. The spotlight behind him illuminated his silhouette, creating an artificial halo of light around him like an angel, and the only thought Hikaru managed to process was that it reminded him of the bright but comforting sun that shone outside his bedroom window.

"How are you guys doing?" He asked, way too casually for the millions of emotions coursing through Hikaru's veins. The crowd just screamed in response, somehow louder than before. The singer chuckled at the reply, and Hikaru noticed his gaze shift to scan the crowd at his feet. His heart stopped when it landed on him, their eyes meeting, and for a second the noise and crowd melted away and suddenly it was three weeks ago and he was on the ground of a dusty Tokyo alleyway looking up into a pair of blue, electric eyes.

Xavier's smile shifted into something a little more genuine, a little more reassuring, before he tore his gaze away. Hikaru heard him introducing the rest of the band, but all he could focus on was the air rushing back into his lungs, not realizing he had been holding his breath. Kaoru was screaming next to him, having the time of his life, and Hikaru smiled a little remembering why he was here in the first place. He tried his best to compose himself when the first song started.

The sound of a muted acoustic guitar echoed through the room and the audience roared, instantly recognizing the song. A drumbeat soon joined in and Hikaru leaned in curiously, realizing that he'd never heard it before.

" _They say, 'Stay in your lane, boy, lane boy.' But we go where we want to. They think this thing is a highway, highway, but will they be alive tomorrow?"_ Xavier began to sing and Hikaru felt the air leave his lungs as he was swept away by his voice. He had forgotten how different it sounded live and the certain rawness to it that seemed almost vulnerable, like every time he sang the man was opening himself up and exposing his emotions to the whole world.

" _They think this thing is a highway. If it was our way, we'd have a tempo change every other time change cause our minds changed on what we think is good. I wasn't raised in the hood, but I know a thing or two about pain and darkness. If it wasn't for this music, I don't know how I would have fought this."_ Hikaru winced at the implications of the lyrics as Xavier transition from singing to a more rap style. He glanced around though, and noticed everyone, including his brother, screaming along to the song, either oblivious or indifferent to the meaning behind the lyrics.

" _Regardless, all these songs I'm hearing are so heartless. Don't trust a perfect person and don't trust a song this flawless, honest. There's a few songs on this record that feel common. I'm in constant confrontation with what I want and what is poppin' in the industry. It seems to me that singles on the radio are currency. My creativity's only free when I'm playing shows."_

Xavier repeated the chorus once more, before singing another verse that was too fast for Hikaru to completely understand. Then, he stopped singing completely and the instruments slowly crescendo behind him before erupting into an explosion of sound. Smoke shot out from the ground of the stage and strobe lights flashed in time to the song, and he could feel the audience pulsing behind him along with it. Xavier started running and jumping around on the stage, his bandmates jamming out to his energy, and Hikaru couldn't help but smile at how much fun the other man seemed to be having, completely in his element.

Xavier ran back to the microphone before singing the chorus one more time, instruments still blasting behind him. Suddenly though, they stopped and went back to the previous melody, still quick and upbeat but with much less of an impact, and Xavier scurried off stage as the band completed the song without him. As the final chord echoed through the room, Xavier reemerged with a water bottle in his hand. He had removed the denim jacket he had been wearing earlier, revealing the black muscle tee underneath that exposed a ripple of muscle along each side of his torso. Hikaru definitely was not staring at it though, he just happened to notice the wardrobe change. Yeah, definitely.

They transitioned to another song quickly, and Hikaru soon picked up a pattern in the band's discography. The songs were all upbeat and raging, the kind of music with a good beat that would play in a club to get a crowd dancing, but sharply contrasted the extremely cynical and gloomy lyrics. He suddenly wondered what demons the man was hiding, and he found himself mentally noting to ask Xavier the meaning behind each song later.

Finally, after a couple songs had passed, the band took a break and joked around with the audience. Vinny and Xavier fake fought with each other over who loved their fans more, and Stella had to get up from the drums to break them up, and Xavier retreated to Isaac for comfort. Some fan behind him yelled for them to "kiss and make up" earning whooping sounds and whistles from the rest of the audience. Xavier yelled at them for being perverts, pretending to be mad, but Vinny snuck up behind him and hugged him anyway, earning a collective "aw" from the crowd.

Hikaru, however, didn't see anything cute about it and wondered what exactly their relationship was. Xavier had told him that Vinny was his best friend, and Hikaru knew from personal experience the wildness of the antics of the fangirl, but it still rubbed him the wrong way and he wondered how much truth laid behind it.

"Alright, alright, in all seriousness though." Xavier began as the crowd's chants and laughter died down. "This next song is something new I've been working on. It's still a little rough, but you guys have been such a good crowd I wanted to surprise you." Hikaru's breath hitched at the mention of a surprise, remembering the text Xavier had sent him what felt like years ago and his anxious energy returned once again.

The mood on the stage shifted as the other band members stared at their front man in confusion, obviously just as surprised as the rest of them. Vinny walked over to him and Hikaru could only hear him because of how close he was.

"Dude what are you talking about? We're supposed to play 'Now' next." Vinny said, covering the mic with his hand so it wouldn't pick up their conversation. A low murmur echoed across the audience at the confusion on stage as everyone wondered what was about to happen. Xavier said something back that Hikaru missed and he realized that his pulse was racing as he tried to convince himself that Xavier wasn't changing up their entire set just for him.

"That's not even ready yet, we can't play it right now." Vinny responded, but Xavier calmed him down with whispered persuasions, and Vinny finally sighed in defeat, submitting to his best friend's request. He walked back to Stella to explain to her the change while Xavier did the same thing for Isaac before the band repositioned themselves.

"As you can tell, this is kind of a big deal." Xavier said smugly as he walked over to pick up an acoustic guitar and made his way back to center stage. A quietness fell across the stage as Xavier strummed the first chords of the song.

" _Did you stand there all alone? Oh, I cannot explain what's going down. I can see you standing next to me, in and out, somewhere else right now. You sigh, look away. I can see it clear as day. Close your eyes, so afraid. Hide behind that baby face."_ Xavier began to sing and, as he reached the chorus, a drumbeat from Stella joined in. Isaac and Vinny had walked off the stage, and he realized how undeveloped the song was if their parts hadn't even been written yet. Hikaru didn't dwell on it for long though, his mind racing as he analyzed every word for some subtle phrasing or hidden meaning, but found he didn't understand at all.

" _You can drive all night looking for the answers in the pouring rain. You wanna find peace of mind, looking for the answer."_ Xavier continued, and Hikaru briefly remembered their car ride and Xavier explaining how he liked to drive around at night to clear his mind when he couldn't sleep, but Hikaru failed to see the relevance of it.

Suddenly, as the next verse started, Xavier nodded to someone off stage and Vinny reemerged with his own acoustic guitar, and picked up the melody as Xavier set his guitar down.

" _Funny how it seems like yesterday. As I recall, you were looking out of place."_ Xavier sang and removed the mic from the stand, moving to the edge of the stage with it a couple feet to Hikaru's right. The crowd around him screamed at the sudden proximity and lurched forward, reaching out to try and touch the singer.

" _Gathered up your things and slipped away. No time at all, I followed you into the hall."_ He continued and jumped down into the gap between the barricade and the stage. The fans reached out, all touching him as he passed by and Hikaru froze as he got closer. The whole world seemed to slow down, the music being muffled by the roaring of blood in his ears, as Xavier approached him and stared straight at him, completely unfazed that he was causing Hikaru's entire world to completely shatter at his feet.

" _Cigarette daydream. You were only seventeen."_ He sang, stopping directly in front of Hikaru and smiled at him smugly, like he found it all amusing. Hikaru didn't dare to move, his breath caught in his throat, as he stared into those piercing blue eyes, so close he could see the dark circles framing them and the sweat on his brow. Xavier gently took Hikaru's hand from the iron grip it had on the barricade, his grasp warm and kind around his, and raised it above his head, lazily twirling him around as he finished the verse. " _So sweet, with a mean streak. Nearly brought me to my knees."_

He gave one last wink to Hikaru before making his way back to the stage, the security guard helping lift him up, and finished the song. Hikaru's mind was racing, his heart pounding, and his entire body buzzing with leftover adrenaline as the moment passed. Half of him felt invincible, like he could scale a mountain or fight a bear, but the other half wanted to double over and vomit out all the emotions churning in his stomach.

Suddenly, he froze, remembering his surroundings and the hundreds of other people who had just witnessed that moment. More importantly though, the one who mattered the most was standing right next to him. When he looked at Kaoru, his twin's jaw was on the floor and his eyes were as wide as saucers. In his hand, his phone was clutched tightly and pointing straight at Hikaru's face. He had recorded the whole thing.

"Oh my God!" Kaoru yelled, finally stopping the recording and putting his phone down. "Oh my God oh my G od ohmy g OD ohmygodhiajohshjmygdddd." Was all Hikaru could make out before his brother spontaneously combusted into a mix of frantic screaming and jumbled crying. He reached out to comfort his brother through it.

"Kaoru, breathe!" He told him, rubbing his brother's back soothingly, and his twin stopped the random noise making and took a deep inhale. "Yeah, that's good. In, out, in, out, yeah just like that. You're doing great." He coaxed his brother as he began to breathe normally.

"You just-" He started "And Xavier- And I-" He spoke, and it was still a little jumbled but more coherent. "And I got it all on film!" He announced, excitement and pride morphing his expression. "Oh my God! I have to post this on my blog! Everyone's going to want to see it." Hikaru's eyes widened, knowing that no matter what that video could not see the light of day.

"No, don't!" He yelled, taking the phone from his twin's hands in a rush of panic before he even registered what he was doing. "I mean…" He muttered, trying to come up with an excuse. "Just enjoy the rest of the concert for now. You can always upload it later." He said, gently putting the phone back in his brother's hands. Kaoru tilted his head as if debating it, but a new song started up at that moment and his twin looked away, his attention instantly distracted by the band on stage. Hikaru sighed in relief that he had bought him some more time, but he knew he would have to deal with that problem eventually.

He tried to relax for the rest of the concert but his mind was racing. That moment kept playing over and over in his head and he found he couldn't focus on the performance in front of him. Instead he kept thinking about those mischievous eyes, that smug smile, and the teasing little twirl.

Had it all been a _joke?_

* * *

A couple songs passed and Hikaru's mind was lacking focus too much to keep up with exactly how many. They finished the song they were playing, a more popular one that he recognized from TV the other day before they had left for Tokyo, when Xavier spoke up from stage.

"Alright I've got one more surprise for you before we play our last song." He announced and the crowd somehow managed to simultaneously groan and cheer in response. Hikaru tensed, his grip on the barricade tightening, not sure how many more surprises he could take in one night."You all know my girlfriend, Monique, right?" The audience yelled and he waited for them to quiet down before continuing. "Well, she's been a little down lately so I promised her she could borrow my band for the night. Come on out here, Mona!" He shouted to the side of the stage where a small blonde girl with pigtails on top of her head and a little black dress came running out.

She made her way straight to Xavier as the crowd roared and everyone pulled their phones out to capture the surprise performance. They exchanged a couple words, and Hikaru would've been able to understand it if it hadn't been in French, before sharing an affectionate kiss earning an "aw" from the crowd. Hikaru just scowled at the scene, not really sure why he was so angry since he knew it was all fake, but deciding he didn't like her anyway. Xavier left the stage, but Hikaru was close enough to the front that he could still see the blonde lurking behind the curtain to watch the performance. Monique said something to the other band members before turning back to the audience.

"Hello, thank you for supporting Xavier." She said into the microphone in broken Japanese and everyone cheered in response, obviously noticing it was hard for her to speak the language.

"She can sing?" Hikaru asked his brother as the band repositioned themselves on stage.

"Are you serious, Hikaru? She's the lead singer of a band back in France." Kaoru replied, surprised that his twin didn't know one of the most important things about her. Hikaru was about to respond when a guitar riff started that was too loud for him to talk over. The audience screamed in response, instantly recognizing the song.

" _Hello again, friend of a friend, I knew you when our common goal was waiting for the world to end. Now that the truth is just a rule that you can bend, you crack the whip, shape-shift and trick the past again."_ She sang and you could see the absolute anger in her eyes as she stood in the center of the stage. Hikaru wondered what was going on and he glanced at Xavier at the side of the stage who also looked a little distraught.

" _I'll send you my love, on a wire. Lift you up, every time. Everyone, ooh, pulls away, ooh, from you."_ She started loosening up with each line she sang, dancing a little bit more, and was now dragging the microphone across the stage as she made her way over to Vinny's side. She put her hand across his chest and seductively danced on him as an instrumental part began. Vinny stared at her with wide eyes, frozen to the spot and obviously not sure what to do, but she was completely oblivious to it. Hikaru's mouth fell open, not expecting her to be like this at all. She had high laced, red stilettos on that made her look powerful, and she carried herself like she would step on anyone who stood in her way with them.

" _Got balls of steel, got an automobile, for a minimum wage. Got real estate, I'm buying it all up in outer space."_ She continued, finally peeling off of Vinny and strutting her way back to center stage, each step of her stiletto heel matching the beat of the song as if she was controlling it herself. " _Now that the truth is just a rule that you can bend. You crack the whip, shape-shift and trick, the past again."_

Her eyes scanned the crowd at her feet and landed on Hikaru. She smirked at the twin, and the redhead held his breath, not sure what she was going to do, but winked at him knowingly before turning her gaze back to the audience. Hikaru wasn't sure what this meant, but he figured Xavier had told her about him in some way or another if she had known to acknowledge him at all. His stomach flipped at the realization, and he didn't know how he should feel about it. Monique repeated the chorus once more before the music slowly fizzled out and the song finally ended. The crowd exploded in response.

"Thank you so much!" She exclaimed in French, and Kaoru had to translate it for him. "I'm the lead singer of a band called Paris. Please support us so we can play for you guys together one day!" Xavier walked out with a smile and gave her a proud hug. She had honestly owned the performance so much, Hikaru had forgotten that she was playing with an unfamiliar band and that it hadn't even been her concert to start with.

"Thanks, Monique." He said into the mic as she made her way off stage. "It's going to be hard to follow that." He admitted, before glancing over at his guitarist who seemed to still be phased by the interaction. "You okay, Vinny?"

"I feel like I just died and was resurrected." The guitarist explained, still in awe. "I have a whole new perspective on life now."

"Alright, buddy, just hang in there for one more song." Xavier said with mock concern, and it was obvious that they were just joking with one another. The chords to the final song began to echo through the room and Xavier took a breath.

* * *

One song and _two_ encores later, the lights finally came on signifying that the concert was over. The crew made their way back out to strike the stage while the crowd of fans slowly dispersed. It was almost midnight, and Hikaru didn't realize how extremely exhausted he was until the pressure against his back that had him pinned to the barricade finally subsided and he was forced to stand on his own two legs. The three of them peeled themselves off the small metal gate and Hikaru was already moving towards the exit, following the movement of the crowd, when Kaoru grabbed his wrist.

"Where are you going? We have backstage passes, remember?" His twin reminded, and Hikaru groaned. He already didn't want to see Xavier to start with, especially after the stunt he had just pulled, but now with his body on the brink of exhaustion, the idea was even less appealing. It also didn't help that he would have to put up a front the entire time and act like he had never met the singer before. Kaoru frowned at his brother's obvious distaste and whined. "Are you serious, Hikaru? You know how important this is to me."

He knew Kaoru was right, and he was doing that thing where he was being selfish and not considering other people's emotions. He bit his lip to try and hide the scowl that had crossed his face at how completely opposed to the idea he was, but he knew he had to go through with it for Kaoru's sake.

"Fine, whatever." He grumbled, not making eye contact with his twin. "Let's just get this over with."

Kaoru silently cheered when his twin agreed, and he turned to Yuukio to lead the way. They made their way to a set of doors on the opposite side of the stage from where the exit was, Kaoru practically beaming in his excitement. They flashed their badges for a security guard before being allowed entry, and made their way through a labyrinth of hallways. Kaoru was practically skipping while Hikaru resembled the personification of disgust, his head hung low in a scowl while keeping a firm gaze on the floor, his balled-up fists shoved deep in his jacket pockets.

It felt like hours later when they arrived at the door labeled 'Lost in Translation Dressing Room.' The twins simultaneously gulped, in anticipation of what was about to happen. Yuukio took one last glance at them, as if she knew exactly what was going through each of their minds, before knocking lightly on the door and sticking her head in.

* * *

"Really, Mona? A break up song?" Xavier questioned in disbelief back in the dressing room. "Could you make it any more obvious?" He was pacing now, running his hands through his hair in distress at all the interpretations that could come out of that performance. He was already on thin ice as it was.

"Like you're being any more careful. I just wanted to sing about the breakup with Léa because I knew it would make me feel better, and that song was perfect." She protested, rolling her eyes from where she was leaning on Stella on the couch and scrolling through her Twitter feed on her phone. "You're the one who texted your boyfriend on national television." Vinny nodded in agreement from where he was leaning on the back of the couch and Isaac watched them from his chair next to the mirror.

"Oh my god, he's not my boyfriend." Xavier groaned, sick of everyone's constant teasing. "I just haven't had the opportunity to get close to anyone new like this ever since we got famous. It's refreshing and it helps me to write music."

"Yeah, that song you wrote about him was really cute." Stella piped up, pausing in braiding the blonde girl's hair and it was obvious she was trying to relax the situation.

"Yeah, my favorite part was when you serenaded him in front of thousands of fans who all own camera phones. You might as well have just fucked him on the stage while you were at it." Monique scoffed, sitting up and unknowingly pulling her hair out of Stella's reach.

"Mona!" Xavier exclaimed. She used to be the sweet little girl next door back in France but, just like him, she had changed a lot and became more rebellious after discovering music and forming a band.

"I'm just saying, you're not the only one who has a lot to lose, alright? Tonight was a taste of your own medicine. If you want me to cool it down than you have to start pulling your weight as well." She explained, standing up and pulling her dress down so it was covering her better. "I'm going to go ahead and head home while you guys finish up here." She decided, obviously not wanting to argue anymore, before exiting through a side door that led to her adjoining dressing room.

"She's right." He sighed, looking at his best friends. "I'm being stupid and reckless. I can't keep doing this."

"Dude, are you kidding me?" Vinny disagreed. "This guy, whatever he is to you, is the best thing that's happened to you in a while."

"Yeah, we haven't seen you this excited for a show since we first got signed." Isaac pointed out, also joining into the conversation.

"Plus, you've been writing some kickass songs." Stella added, holding up the music to Cigarette Daydreams that they had to use during the show since they didn't have it memorized yet. "We know it's all because of him." Xavier smiled at them, wondering what he had done to earn himself the best friends in the entire world, and took the sheet music from her. He scanned the paper over, smiling a little sweeter as he reread the lyrics and they reminded him of the redhead boy, long car rides, and the smell of cigarette smoke in the early morning. He would have to change the instrumentation more, because he had been trying to capture that sensation of being in the car with Hikaru that morning; the feeling of new beginnings and sunrises and summer love. He opened his mouth to say something when a soft knock from the door interrupted him and a familiar face appeared from behind it.

* * *

"Hey, are you guys busy?" Yuukio asked to the people inside the room, keeping the door closed enough that the twins were shielded from view.

"Oh, hey Yuukio!" Said a stupid French accent from the other side of the door and Hikaru instinctively rolled his eyes at it. His exterior expression was one of indifference, but his mind was screaming to tuck-tail and run. "No, not really. Why, what's up?" Kaoru's hand shot out in his excitement and grabbed his twin's wrist, squeezing it into a death grip, and he remembered why he was doing all this.

"I hope you don't mind, but I have two really big fans of yours here that really want to meet you." She explained, straightening up and opening the door a little wider to reveal herself entirely but not her companions.

"We love meeting fans!" Exclaimed a chirpy, obviously female voice that Hikaru assumed belonged to the drummer, Stella. "Send them in!"

Yuukio spared another glance towards the twins over her shoulder, sending Hikaru a worried look that made him briefly wonder how much she knew, before opening the door completely and ushering the twins in.

The world seemed to slow down as Hikaru stepped into the more dimly lit room. He could still feel his brother's vice like grip on his arm, and he was aware of the other three people inhabiting the room as well, but everything seemed to melt away as every nerve in his body focused on blonde hair and blue eyes. Xavier was reading over a sheet of paper in his hands, and Hikaru watched as his head slowly looked up at what seemed an agonizing pace, before noticing him and his eyes widening in shock.

"Hika-" He murmured in his shock, but quickly caught himself. His brother seemed too lost in his excitement to notice, but the other three musicians picked up on the unexpected reaction and eyed the twins wearily. Xavier however, quickly composed himself, setting down the paper and making his way over to them with a smile and an outstretched hand. "Hi, it's nice to meet you. I'm-"

"Xavier Labelle." Kaoru supplied, his excitement suppressing all rational thoughts while he took the singer's hand in both of his and began shaking it furiously while he spoke. "I love your music so much, I've been following it since your first album dropped. Your lyrics are just so amazing wow, it's honestly genius. And you're just so talented, I can't believe we were even blessed to have-" Hikaru quickly elbowed his twin as he realized the direction his rambling was going, effectively cutting him off before he could embarrass both of them. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry." He apologized suddenly, dropping the blonde's hand and blushing deeply.

"It's alright." Xavier reassured chuckling. "You guys are the reason all of this is possible, so thank you for the support." He explained, and bowed at the twin. Kaoru froze, his brain short-circuiting. Hikaru just rolled his eyes at the display.

"Can you just get a picture or whatever so we can leave." Hikaru complained, wanting to be anywhere but in this room at that moment now that he was literally face to face with the lie he was keeping from his brother. Kaoru nodded excitedly at the suggestion, ignoring his brother's sour attitude, and handed him his phone before going to stand next to the singer. Hikaru scowled at the fact that he had to take the photo, Yuukio having wandered off to whisper with the others about something, but complied to his brother's wishes. He raised the small screen up when Xavier's arm wrapped around Kaoru's waist making him blush deeply and squirm in excitement. Hikaru just wanted to punch both of them, but hastily took the picture anyway.

"Also, if you wouldn't mind." Kaoru requested, sliding off his backpack and pulling out a vinyl record of the band's album and holding it up to the singer. Hikaru inwardly snorted at the fact that his brother had brought something so big all the way from home just in case something like this happened, but he bit his tongue before he could embarrass Kaoru in front of his idol. Xavier took the record and signed it with practiced ease before handing it back to his fidgeting fan.

"Would you like a picture?" Xavier asked, and when Hikaru looked up the singer was staring straight back at him with a genuine smile. He jumped a little, being taken off guard by the man's directness, before biting back a reply.

"Nah, not really a fan." Hikaru denied sarcastically, not looking away, and a smugness crept into Xavier's smile at the notion of their familiar banter.

"Hikaru!" Kaoru whispered, harshly, elbowing his brother for his rude comment. "He would _love_ a picture." Hikaru stared at him in disbelief, a protest ready on his tongue, when his twin interrupted him by pushing him next to the singer and forcing him to face forwards. Kaoru raised his phone up to capture the moment, and Hikaru felt the warmth of an arm wrapping around his midsection similarly to how the blonde had posed with his brother. Goosebumps spread from the point of contact and Hikaru had to repress the shiver that ran up his spine. He was close enough that he could hear Xavier breathing, and that familiar sweet smell of acoustic guitars and songs about summer love encompassed him once more.

"Hika, _smile._ " His brother urged, pulling him out from his thoughts. Before he had processed what was going on, he found himself complying, although he was sure the expression would seem strained at how much it contrasted with his actual emotions. "Okay, thank you!" Kaoru called, lowering the phone and giving a slight bow. He felt Xavier give his waist a final squeeze before pulling away, and Kaoru dragged him away to talk to the other band members and get pictures and autographs from them as well.

Hikaru kept glancing up at the other man from across the room as Xavier went back to analyzing the sheet of paper from earlier. Every time they made eye contact, Hikaru mentally kicked himself and promised he wouldn't look at him again, but he found he kept involuntarily glancing back at the singer anyway.

It felt like hours later before Yuukio finally dragged a protesting Kaoru away, claiming the band was tired and they had overstayed their welcome, with Hikaru hot on their heels wanting to get as far away as possible from the confusing and upsetting feeling settling in his gut.

When they had left the room and started making their way down the hallway, Hikaru noticed Yuukio slip her grip on Kaoru's arm down to his hand. They shared a small smile, before Yuukio jumped and glanced at Hikaru behind them, as if just remembering that he was there, and pulled their hands apart. Kaoru didn't turn around, but he saw the slight slump in his shoulders in disappointment.

"Do you guys want to get food?" Yuukio asked,trying to brush off the uncomfortable moment and looking to both of them for a reaction. "I know some places that stay open late." Kaoru opened his mouth to agree, but his twin cut him off.

"You know, why don't you guys go without me." Hikaru suggested, and the group stopped to stare at him in disbelief. He honestly wasn't sure what came over him either, but seeing his brother like that sent a pang of hurt through his chest, and he wasn't sure if it was for him or Kaoru but his body was screaming at him to run away. "I'm really tired and I just want to go home." He continued, trying to seem casual, and it wasn't entirely a lie.

"Are you sure?" Kaoru asked, not wanting to ruin the opportunity to spend time alone with Yuukio but worrying about his brother anyway.

"I'm not a baby, Kaoru." Hikaru scoffed, looking away in irritation. "I can handle calling an Uber and getting home by myself."

"Of course." Kaoru agreed, noticing that this was hard for Hikaru to do and not wanting to push him any further. "If you need anything just call me." Hikaru nodded, wanting them to just leave already, before the pair finally turned and began to walk away. Hikaru noticed Kaoru reach out and grab Yuukio's hand right before they turned the corner, disappearing out of his site.

Hikaru didn't understand the concoction of emotions that boiled in his stomach, threatening to spill out if he didn't keep his mouth shut. He knew he was being selfish, and his brother's happiness should be his priority, but it just _hurt_ and he didn't know why.

He ran his hand through his hair, trying to calm himself down and ignore his feelings, and leaned against the nearby wall. He pulled his phone out in hopes of a distraction and waited for the Uber app to load. The connection here was shit, but the familiar map popped up after a minute or so. There were a lot of cars in the area, but when he requested one none answered immediately, and he realized there was probably a lot of other people trying to get home from the concert as well. He had been waiting for a few minutes when he heard a door open further down the hall.

"Hikaru?" He glanced up at his name. It was Stella. "What are you still doing here?" She asked, walking over to him and looking up and down the hall. "And where did the other two go?" Hikaru was a little confused as to how she knew his name, pretty sure he had never actually talked to her directly, but didn't linger on it.

"I stayed back so they could go on a date or whatever. I'm just waiting for an Uber so I can head home." He grumbled, glancing back at the small screen. The app let him know that someone had picked up his request and that they were five minutes away. He should probably head outside to meet them.

"You're going to go home all alone?" She inquired, a whiny tone lacing her voice. Hikaru gave her a confused look, not exactly sure what she was getting at. "No, that just won't do!" She decided, and started pulling the twin back towards the dressing room.

"What are you talking about?" He wondered, noticing that the small girl was a lot stronger than he thought as he couldn't squirm out of her grip.

"We're all going to Xavier's to hang out soon. You should come!" She exclaimed, squealing at the idea.

"Um, wait- no!" He protested, his brain not moving fast enough to keep up with his mouth. He had no idea why this girl cared about him or what she wanted from this but his whole body was screaming at him to run. He wouldn't- couldn't- see Xavier again and be forced to deal with the emotional shit-storm he unleashed on Hikaru every time he looked at him.

"Um, wait- yes!" The girl yelled back, playfully mocking him. "We've all been dying to meet the 'mystery girl' Xavier wrote that song about, especially after that stunt you guys pulled on _national_ television." She teased. Hikaru blushed at the memory, but composed himself enough to grab the girl's wrist before she could reach for the doorknob. "Pleeeaase, it would mean a lot to us and Xavier promised to make us food." She pleaded. Hikaru's stomach chose that moment to grumble, as if reacting to the mention of food, and Stella smirked in victory. He cancelled the Uber on his phone, conceding to pay the 1,000-yen cancellation fee, when Stella barged into the room, dragging Hikaru behind her.

"Can you please stop making assumptions?" Xavier was arguing with Vinny when they walked in, wearing only sweatpants with a t-shirt clutched in his hand. Hikaru was too distracted by the man's bare and incredibly toned torso to register what they were fighting about. "You don't even know him-"

Stella cleared her throat, announcing their presence, and both boys glanced at her, freezing when they noticed Hikaru standing behind her. "I invited Hikaru to come hang out with us!" She announced. A silence fell across the room, no one really sure how to respond, and Hikaru momentarily wondered if he should just leave, but Vinny finally piped up.

"Alright, man!" He exclaimed, walking towards the twin and throwing his arm across his shoulders. "I've been dying to meet you! That idiot just would not shut up about you after he mulled you with that door." Hikaru glanced to Xavier with a raised eyebrow at the claim, and noticed to his amusement the man looking away and blushing, pulling on the t-shirt to hide his face. As much as he doubted it to be true, a small fluttering feeling bloomed in his chest just at the notion, but he promptly ignored it.

"Sorry, Hikaru." Xavier apologized sarcastically, as he made his way up to the small group. "Vinny here is actually a compulsive liar." He explained patting his friend solemnly on the back, only earning a glare in return.

"Ha! I wish." They heard Isaac contribute from the couch, where he was distracted with something on his phone. Hikaru turned back to the singer and couldn't help but point and laugh at the fact that his best friends had come together just to single handedly expose him like that.

"Isaac!" He yelled in disbelief that one of his oldest friends had betrayed him so easily. This caused the rest of the group to erupt in a storm of giggles, except for Xavier who just glared at them. "Whatever, let's go." Xavier grumbled, pulling on his denim jacket that he had been wearing for the first song of the night and grabbing his guitar case, before leading the group out. Hikaru was painfully reminded why Xavier had had to use this denim one instead of his usual leather one, and the fluttering feeling returned at the thought, but Hikaru suppressed it as best as he could, refusing to acknowledge whatever it might mean.

Vinny kept his arm around Hikaru as they walked, making small talk with him while they made their way out the back of the venue, Stella occasionally adding in her own commentary. They piled into a waiting white van that he was pretty sure was the same one from the night they met, and was squeezed between Xavier and Stella in the backseat. Hikaru tried to let Stella's exciting chirping distract him from the knowledge of a certain blonde's thigh pressed flush against his, but he found himself subconsciously leaning into the touch instead, which for some reason reminded him of the radiating warmth of the rays of the sun.

* * *

When they arrived at Xavier's place, they pulled into the now familiar underground garage before filing out of the van and making their way into the house. When they turned the corner into the main room, Hikaru noticed blonde pigtails lounging on the couch and watching the quiet TV, turning upon hearing them come in.

"You're back already?" She asked, straightening up and stretching silently before noticing Hikaru. "Oh, who's this?"

Hikaru tensed when he noticed Xavier's girlfriend's attention on him, not sure how he should act. He remembered her performance from earlier that night and how confident and powerful she seemed on stage and was scared of being in her presence now in real life. He also knew that her and Xavier weren't actually dating, but in a matter of minutes she had had a whole audience at her feet. Even he could acknowledge how attractive she seemed in that moment, and Hikaru wondered what the nature of their relationship actually was.

"Hikaru, this is my friend Monique." Xavier introduced, gesturing to the girl on the couch.

"Oh, and here I thought I was your _girl_ friend." Monique pouted sarcastically, faking hurt.

"Shut up, Mona." Xavier argued, making his way to the kitchen with Hikaru absentmindedly trailing behind him. Monique smirked at the pair before jumping up from the couch and took a seat at one of the stools at the tall bar separating the kitchen from the living room. "I'm making dinner. Do you want any?" He asked her, and a pair of blonde pigtails nodded enthusiastically.

"Ugh, I'm starving." Stella whined as she slid into a stool next to her, while Vinny and Isaac went to the living room to find a movie for them to watch.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you." Xavier told her, making his way to the fridge and pulling out a bunch of ingredients, handing them to Hikaru to place on the island. The twin had instinctively followed the man into the kitchen and realized he had just gotten roped into helping him cook and suddenly understood why everyone else had dispersed.

"Um, I don't know how to cook. Don't you have chefs?" Hikaru asked, setting the objects down as Xavier closed the fridge and went to rummage in the pantry.

"Zavey hates having people messing with his stuff so he doesn't have any permanent staff." Stella explained watching them from her seat. Hikaru was more distracted by the cute nickname, however than her response. Xavier set the ingredients down on the counter and began adding them into a mixing bowl, not bothering to measure anything.

"I probably wouldn't mind it so much if the maids in France hadn't been so goddamn awful." Xavier complained, shoving the bowl and a whisk into Hikaru's hands.

"Aw, were your maids not up to your ridiculously high standards, _Zavey?_ " Hikaru commented with an amused smirk, starting to mix the ingredients in the bowl. Xavier tensed at the nickname, but brushed it off quickly.

"Don't call me that." He ordered setting down a bag of flour on the counter and spreading its contents over the granite surface. It was then that Hikaru noticed the substance he was mixing was turning into dough and he wondered what the blonde was making.

"What are you going to do about it, _Zavey?_ " Hikaru teased again, and he heard Stella giggling from where she and Monique were watching. Xavier glared at him and Hikaru couldn't help his smug grin at successfully annoying the other man. Xavier glanced back at the flour on the counter and back at Hikaru's shit eating grin, before scooping up a handful of flour and blowing it onto the twin's face.

"That." He responded, biting his lip to hold back his laugh and they heard a snort from the bar. Hikaru's mouth dropped as the man casually went back to his cooking, but there was no way he was just going to let that go. He took the whisk and scraped at the contents of the bowl before dropping a dollop of the sticky dough onto Xavier's unsuspecting head. The blonde turned back to him slowly, his eyes set in a furious glare, and scooped up his own handful of dough and rubbed it into Hikaru's hair.

"Oh, now you asked for it." Hikaru warned, before dumping all the contents of the bowl onto the other man's head. That was the last straw apparently, because Xavier pounced and soon the two were in an all-out food fight. They started grabbing ingredients from the counter to use as ammo and jumped behind the island for shelter. The other four cheered them on from behind the safety of the bar, and somehow Vinny got a hold of the sprayer from the sink and started squirting them with water from the sidelines. By the time they ran out of ingredients, they were a panting mess on the floor, covered in sticky, watered-down food and completely soaked.

"Well, so much for making pizza." Xavier sighed, sitting up on the now slippery tiled floor. Hikaru couldn't help the laugh that escaped him and he was rewarded by a matching smile from the other man.

"I just want to take a shower." Hikaru complained, still chuckling at the immaturity but surprising fun of what they had just done.

"I'll order some pizza." Isaac decided, already pulling his phone out to look up the number. He was usually serious, but they could hear the smile in his voice at the two idiots on the ground.

"That sounds perfect." Stella agreed, turning to help pick the pizzas.

"Why don't you guys go shower and we'll clean up down here." Vinny suggested, and the other two nodded.

"By that, he means we'll call someone to come clean this up." Monique corrected, looking at the wet mess of food with disgust and everyone knew there was no way she was going to touch it.

Xavier picked himself up off the ground and stretched a hand out to help the twin. Hikaru stared at it hesitantly for a second, but when he remembered it wasn't a big deal, he took the hand and hoisted himself up.

"Come on, you can use my bathroom." Xavier said, and the two toed off their soaked shoes and socks before making their way through the rest of the spotless house. Xavier let the twin into his bedroom, which Hikaru noticed wasn't locked this time, and was hit with that overwhelming smell of Xavier all over again. This time though, the familiar aroma of lazy mornings and summer breezes was spiced with a sharp scent of adrenaline and cigarette smoke. The room looked the same as it had the first time, except now he noticed an acoustic guitar was lying on the bed along with that black notebook and other loose sheets of paper. Hikaru wondered if he was working on another song, but didn't question it out loud.

Xavier went to rummage through a couple drawers in his wardrobe before handing Hikaru a stack of clothes on top of a towel. "You can use that." He offered before leading the twin to the adjoining bathroom. "I have soap and shampoo and everything in there."

"What about you?" Hikaru asked, stopping the other man before he could leave. If he was using Xavier's bathroom, then where was he supposed to shower?

"I'll use the bathroom in Jackal's room. He's not here right now so it's fine." Xavier explained, and Hikaru nodded, glad Xavier had the courtesy to not make him use a strangers bathroom. Then the other man turned around and left, closing the door behind him, and leaving Hikaru alone. He stared at his reflection in the mirror and noticed the dough that had dried in his hair and other food he couldn't recognize that had created splotches of crust over his clothes and skin. It was then that everything hit him.

He was in the house of teen rock sensation Xavier Labelle, that half of Japan was obsessed with, _again_. And he was about to use his personal bathroom, towel, and clothes. How many people would literally kill to trade places with him right now?

A warm, fluttering sensation filled his stomach at the thought and he couldn't help but laugh. Was he actually starstruck right now? Is that what was causing his insides to tingle and his heart to flutter like this? He wasn't sure, he was never good at reading his emotions, so he turned to the shower before he could dwell on it much longer.

He peeled off his clothes, dropping them onto a heap on the floor, before stepping over the rim of the box and under the showerhead and turning on the spray. There were shelves of products on the opposite wall, and he actually sniffed each one before he found the shampoo that matched Xavier's smell, maybe just a little bit sweeter though. He would never admit this to anyone of course, including himself apparently, as he once again ignored the way the scent made him shiver and his skin erupt in goosebumps. He washed his hair with the shampoo three times before being satisfied that he had thoroughly removed every bit of food and moved on. There was only one body wash, and when he poured it out he was hit by that strong musty smell of Xavier's that sent a shudder through him, feeling too intimate to be completely encompassed by it in this way.

When he finally finished after what felt like forever later, he toweled himself dry before turning to the stack of clothes. There was a pair of clean, American Apparel briefs with the logo written in bold across the waistband, and a black t-shirt with the silhouette of a box and the words 'The 1975' stamped on the front. He stepped into the underwear but, when he further examined the shirt, he realized it was a commoner's shirt made of thin, cheap material. He hesitated, but slipped it on anyway, and noticed he hadn't been given a pair of pants. He glanced at his disgusting pants lying in a heap on the floor, and groaned. He grabbed a towel to dry his hair with, before stepping out of the room and praying Xavier wouldn't be there.

The singer was sitting on his bed, fumbling with his guitar, and instantly looked up when the redhead stepped out. Xavier audibly choked upon seeing him.

"Hikaru! What are you doing? Why aren't you wearing pants?!" He exclaimed, and Hikaru noticed amused that even though the blonde had turned his head away, he kept glancing back at him. He knew he had a nice body, and while he usually wasn't ashamed of it, he felt inexplicably worried at Xavier seeing him like this. Like, he suddenly cared about Xavier's opinion of him more than he usually would for anyone else, and it was slightly off putting for the usually confident twin.

"You didn't give me pants." He snapped, irritated at the blush settling across his cheeks from his embarrassment. He tried to rub the towel through his damp hair for an attempt at casualness, but found his movements tense and stiff anyway.

"Oh, fuck, I'm sorry." Xavier apologized, running his hand through his hair nervously and still struggling to make eye contact with the twin. "There's some in the bottom drawer." He instructed, pointing to the dresser across from the bed he was on.

Hikaru rushed over to the piece of furniture, and leaned over to reach the bottom drawer, unknowingly putting his ass on display for the other man. He grabbed the first pair of sweatpants he found, a loose black pair with white English letters written down one of the legs, and hastily tugged them on. When he turned back around, he noticed Xavier watching him intensely, his eyes as wide as saucers.

"What?" Hikaru asked, blushing even deeper at the expression but attempting to maintain a straight face. This caused Xavier to jump at being caught staring, and he quickly glanced away.

"Nothing, sorry…" he mumbled, turning his attention back to the guitar in his hands.

"Are you working on another song?" Hikaru asked, trying to shift the awkward mood.

"Uh, yeah." Xavier answered, still sounding kind of dazed. Hikaru draped the towel around his neck before walking over to sit across the singer on the bed.

"Haven't you already written like three songs in the past three weeks?" Hikaru questioned, wondering if it was normal to produce so much music.

"Technically, I've only written the one for that talk show." Xavier explained, and Hikaru reflexively looked away at the mention of it. "The other two I had been working on for a while now already. Jackal just really wants us to release a new single at the end of summer before-" He cut himself off, looking at Hikaru worriedly like he had said too much.

"Before what?" Hikaru couldn't help but ask, wondering what he was hiding.

"Nothing, it doesn't matter. I'm just under a lot of pressure to make it really good. Jackal has rejected all three of those songs for the single because he says they weren't good enough." Xavier explained, brushing off the question.

"Good enough?" Hikaru wondered, raising an eyebrow at the excuse. He had had that stupid sun and moon song stuck in his head for the past three weeks and he only heard it once. How was that not good enough for a single?

"Like, it needs to be 'top-ten in the country' good." Xavier elaborated, setting aside the guitar and scratching something out in the notebook.

"Can I see it?" Hikaru asked, nodding towards the notebook. Xavier glanced down at the page and blushed before looking back up.

"Uh… I don't know. This one's kind of personal." He explained, not making eye contact with the redhead.

"So personal, that you can add music to it and release it to the whole world?" Hikaru questioned sarcastically.

"Well, no. _If_ it gets released it'll be really edited and vaguer." Xavier explained, glancing back at the words scrawled across the paper. "I was just focused on getting all my emotions down so it's still really raw right now."

"Aw, come on! Don't be such a hard ass, _Zavey._ " Hikaru teased, using the nickname just to annoy him even more. He reached out for the notebook, but the blonde pulled it out of his reach at the last second. Frustrated, he got on his knees and jumped for it, successfully getting a grip on it, but Xavier tried to kick him away, sliding further down the bed as his balance shifted.

"Stop, Hikaru! It's private." He pleaded, but Hikaru knew he was about to learn how stubborn he really was. He jumped over the kicking legs to hover over Xavier's lap and lunged for the notebook, leaning over him on his elbows, but the singer would not give up. He ran his free hand up and down the blonde's side, causing him to wriggle and laugh in response to the tickling, and reflexively loosened his grip.

"Ha!" Hikaru exclaimed, finally tugging the notebook from the other man's hand and holding it out of his reach. He glanced down at the singer below him, a triumphant smile on his face, but when their eyes met they both froze.

Hikaru was straddling Xavier on his bed and leaning over him so their faces were barely a foot apart. The moment was silent and tense, both frozen in anticipation, and Hikaru wasn't sure what was about to happen; what he wanted to happen. He opened his mouth to say something but there was no air in his lungs. He had never been so close to the other man before, and it was the first time he noticed the undertones of grey in his icy blue eyes and the flecks of silver that shimmered in the dim light.

Xavier's gaze drifted to Hikaru's lips, and the redhead reflexively licked them in a moment of insecurity. He watched those blue swirls dilate at the motion and Hikaru's heart began to speed up when he realized what was hanging in the air between them. He wasn't sure what he wanted in the moment, his mind racing with each frantic thought, but he found himself leaning down anyway, his body moving faster than his mind could process the whirlwind of emotions swirling in his head. The distance between them closed at an agonizingly slow pace, not thinking; not breathing. They were only inches apart suddenly, and Hikaru felt hot air graze his face as Xavier exhaled. He closed his eyes.

"Hey, the pizza's here!" Stella announced from the door before gasping. Hikaru jumped so high, he fell off the bed and stumbled onto the floor, his body pounding with adrenaline and his head buzzing. "Oh my God! I'm so sorry!" Stella apologized, before closing the door and rushing off. Hikaru sat on the ground frozen, as he tried to process what had just happened. What was about to happen. What he was about to _let_ happen. He couldn't even admit it to himself or say the word in his head. He was hit with a wave of emotions that he couldn't decipher and his head hurt, but also his heart hurt as well, and he didn't know _why._

"Hikaru, I-" the blonde on the bed tried to salvage the situation, but Hikaru wasn't ready for talking. He wasn't sure what to think, much less what to say. So he did what he did best.

He ran away.

He jumped up, making his way across the room as fast as possible and grabbing his phone and wallet off the dresser where he had left them.

"I have to go." He announced, making his way to the door.

"Hikaru, wait!" Was the last thing he heard before he slammed the door behind him and sprinted out of the house.

* * *

"Hikaru!" Xavier screamed when the door slammed shut. "Fuck!" He yelled in frustration before he felt all the air leave his lungs. He gasped, trying to inhale again, but found himself choking instead as his throat closed up. He fell back onto his bed, curling into a fetal position as a cold sweat spread across his skin and he tried to will air into his lungs. He could feel his entire body shaking and he tried to force himself to calm down, but he just couldn't _breathe._

Suddenly the door opened and he heard a familiar voice. "Oh my God!" Vinny exclaimed before rushing over to the writhing boy on the bed. "It's okay, come here." He said, pulling his best friend into his lap and holding him against his chest with strong arms. "It's going to be okay, alright? Just breathe in and out." He soothed, gently running his nails up and down the other man's back. Xavier tried to focus on his breathing as his best friend rocked him slowly, and after a couple minutes he found the air coming easier to him. "In and out, yeah just like that. You're doing great." Vinny encouraged.

"V-vinny." Xavier mumbled, his voice still strained. "I fucked… I fucked it up."

"It's alright, we can fix it." Vinny reassured, still scratching the blonde's back, and he sighed in relief when he noticed him calming down.

"I… I tried to _kiss_ him. I tried to kiss him and he _left_." Xavier cried, feeling the corners of his eyes prickling with oncoming tears. "After we got famous I never… I thought everyone in my life wanted something from me. But he didn't care about any of that… he just cared about _me_." He explained, hiding his face in Vinny's neck to hide the tears sliding hot down his cheeks. "And I fucked it up like I fuck up everything!" He exclaimed, gasping into his friend's chest as the tears streamed quicker.

"Shh, it's okay, Zave." Vinny soothed, rocking them back and forth. "I know it seems bad now, but there's still time to fix this. We can get Yuukio to talk to him and come up with a plan and-"

"No, there is _no time_." Xavier exclaimed pulling away finally to meet his friend's eyes. "We're leaving at the end of the summer, remember? We're going back to America and I'm never going to see him again."

"That's not true." Vinny argued, trying to lighten the situation. "You guys are rich, you can fly back and forth easily. And he graduates in like what, two years?" He questioned, but he honestly wasn't even completely sure of his own words. It seemed to be calming Xavier down though, so he continued. "It'll only work if you want it to work."

Xavier sighed and looked away, his expression obvious that he was mulling over the words, and he wiped the stray tears from his cheeks.

"I need a smoke." Xavier sniffled, picking himself up from the bed and rummaging through the drawer in the nightstand.

"Please, Zave. You haven't smoked in weeks." Vinny pleaded with him. He had hoped that he had finally broken out of his bad smoking habit, but the singer was still relying on it to cope. Xavier didn't answer him however, pulling out the pack and lighter and making his way over to the balcony, closing the door behind him.

* * *

When Hikaru stormed out of the house it was pouring, the sky having opened up at some point when he was distracted and now dropping buckets of water on him. There was no moon out, its beams hidden somewhere behind the thick blanket of clouds, so he had to rely on the artificial light of the streetlamps for illumination. He had heard the questioning calls of Xavier's friends when he ran out, so he hurried down the street in case they tried to follow him. He felt a confusing ball of emotions coiling in his stomach and beating at the inside of his chest for release, but he bit his lip and pushed it back down. He wasn't ready to think, to _know_ , so he pushed it all away, pretending it wasn't there like his tears that were mixing with the rain. At some point, he had called an Uber and sat in the backseat of a stranger's car, but it all seemed like a dream for some reason and Xavier seemed a world away all of a sudden.

When he arrived at his grandma's house it was creeping past three in the morning. He wasn't careful to sneak in or tiptoe past his grandma's room like he should have been, his mind not being able to focus on anything but the numb feeling he had caused within himself. He peeled off his wet clothes when he got to his room, and only flinched a little when he pulled the faded shirt to his nose and realized it didn't smell like anything, the scent of blonde hair and blue eyes, a tired smile and playful bantering, having been washed away completely from the rain. His skin was still damp and his hair dripping with moisture, but he walked past his bed and slipped under his brother's sheets anyway. It smelled like Kaoru, home, and his childhood all at once and he relaxed into the comfort of its familiarity.

"Hikaru… What are you doing?" Kaoru grumbled when he noticed the presence in his bed, turning to face his brother. It wasn't an awkward gesture for them, seeing as they had slept together like this countless times before in the past, but it was still worrisome since something had to have sparked it, and they were a little past the stage of nightmares.

"Nothing, I just couldn't sleep." Hikaru lied, closing his eyes as his previously forgotten exhaustion came back to him all at once.

"You're soaking wet. Did you just get back?" Kaoru asked, starting to wake up as he realized the seriousness of the situation.

"Shower." Hikaru grumbled in response, the lull of sleep slowly pulling his mind into unconsciousness.

"Hikaru, you can't lie to me. You know I can see right through you." Kaoru argued, pinching his brother on the cheek to wake him up. Hikaru swatted his hand away, trying stubbornly to go back to sleep. "Were you with that person? Did they hurt you?" Kaoru asked hesitantly, his voice barely a whisper. Hikaru's eyes flew open.

"What are you talking about?" Hikaru questioned, trying not to let his anxiousness seep into his tone.

"I know you've been lying to me, Hika." Kaoru explained, his voice gentle and not threatening as he reverted back to his old childhood nickname. "I know you met someone that first night in Tokyo at the club. I know they're the one you've been texting and who you were talking to on the phone the other night and I know you ran into them somehow at the park." Kaoru listed slowly, his twin's eyes widening at each new revelation.

"H-how…" Hikaru stuttered, trailing off in his shock.

"We've known each other our entire lives. Do you really think we're not past lying yet?" Kaoru chuckled, but he was absolutely right. The fact that Hikaru even considered hiding such a big secret from his twin brother showed just how much of an idiot he really was. "It's okay though, we're allowed to keep secrets and not tell each other everything." Kaoru continued, referring back to their agreement to try and not be so dependent on one another anymore. "And I could tell they were making you happy, so I didn't question it. I haven't seen you so carefree and cheerful like this since we were younger." Kaoru paused, reaching his hand under the covers to intertwine with his brothers and began rubbing comforting circles on his hand. "But, if they hurt you, I can't turn a blind eye to that."

Hikaru sighed in defeat, staring back at the gentle pair of matching eyes in front of him. He envied his twin so much, always so calm and observant, gentle and caring, and everything he wasn't. Kaoru could always read him better than he could himself, him being the only reason he could sort through his feelings for Haruhi in the first place, and he wanted that so bad. He was tired of feeling hurt and confused all the time and not understanding why, and fucking up everything for himself because all he knew was how to run away and push away and ignore.

"I'm just so confused, Kaoru." Hikaru tried to explain, relishing in the comfort of his twin and the soothing circles he was rubbing into the back of his hand. "At first, I thought I hated him, and then it became this sort of weird game? And I went along with it because, I don't know, it was fun, I guess? But now, I feel like it's gotten out of hand somehow and it's just turned into this big confusing mess and I just don't _understand_." Hikaru flustered, trying to find the right words to pin the confusing experience, but getting lost somewhere along the way. "But then, I saw him tonight and… and it just _hurts_." He cried, gripping at his chest as he felt the jumble of emotions clutching at his heart. Kaoru nodded along, processing the mess of information but understanding it in a way that only he could, and drifted his hand up to rub more circles into his brother's shoulder.

"Hikaru, do you think you like him?" he asked hesitantly, knowing the question wouldn't resonate well no matter how gently he phrased it.

"What? No." Hikaru disagreed almost immediately, not letting himself even consider the idea. Kaoru knew that his twin would react this way, not being able to admit his emotions to himself but much less out loud to somebody else, so he decided on taking a slight detour.

"Okay, well you don't have to tell me who he is, but can you tell me about him at least?" Kaoru asked. Hikaru gave him a weary look, wondering what his brother's intentions were, but complied anyway. The weight of the secret he was keeping had been suffocating him the more it developed, and he knew he needed to tell his brother _something_ if he expected any relief.

"He…" Hikaru trailed off, closing his eyes as he pictured Xavier in his head, behind the pixelated screen of his grandma's TV, under the sun with the light shining in his eyes, or in between the words of a text message or the static of a phone call. "He's really talented. Like he has this way of just captivating people and getting all of their attention somehow, without even trying really. And, we just have this good dynamic, like he can take my mean comments and stubbornness and spit them back at me, and it's just this like really nice back and forth thing. I don't know how to explain it." Hikaru said, and he knew he was rambling but now that he had cracked open that box, he felt everything he had stuffed into it spilling out all at once. "And this is going to seem weird but he smells like the sun… like the sun in the summer, and the sound of acoustic guitars and cicadas blowing in the wind, and also sunrises, and car rides, and cigarette smoke, and- Oh God, everything just reminds me of him." Hikaru whimpered, burying his face in his hands.

"Shh, it's okay, Hikaru." Kaoru assured, pulling his twin close and wrapping his arms around him. "I know it seems confusing right now, but we'll get through this together, we always do." He soothed, running his hand through the identical locks of red hair. "Thank you for opening up to me."

Hikaru couldn't sleep after that, his eyes wide even after he felt his brother's embrace relaxing and his breathing evening out. He didn't deserve to have Kaoru as his twin, and he never would. He was being so caring, so understanding, after Hikaru had outright lied to him. But, the worst part was that Kaoru didn't even know the worst of it. When he figured out who it was that Hikaru was hiding from him, he wasn't sure if Kaoru would ever forgive him. And even if he did, for the sake of being brothers or whatever, could he actually forget what he had done to him? That he was capable of something so terrible?

He wasn't sure what he felt towards Xavier. He knew it wasn't friendship, or idolization, or even curiosity like he had been telling himself before. It was something different, some sort of want or longing that he had never felt before. And the more he dwelled on it, the more confused he felt and the more his heart throbbed in his chest. So finally, he did what he did best, and he pushed it all away.


End file.
